Battle of Wits
by LoquaciousQuibbler
Summary: Naomi has been working for SHEILD since she was 14. Life hasn't been easy, and she felt like she could never talk about it... Until she met Loki. She's intrigued by him, and he's just as intrigued by her. Ofcourse, it's hard to befriend someone you're trying to take down. AU of Avengers.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The Huntress

The orange tiger lay on the bed, looking asleep. But when the man walked into the bedroom, the tiger's eyes snapped open, nearly as sharp as the claws that slid out from its paws. Its amber eyes fixed on the man, who stopped dead when he caught sight of the animal on the bed. When he didn't say or do anything, the big cat growled softly, as if to say 'get on with it'.

He cleared his throat. "Um, are you Naomi Carson?"

The tiger nodded slowly, flexing its claws and looking suspiciously at the man in its room.

"I'm Steve Rogers, and Shield sent me."

The tiger's claws stopped flexing, and it looked curiously at him, if still a bit untrusting.

"They need you for a mission. There's an energy source that comes from space, called the Tesseract. It's been stolen by a man named Loki. They need our help to get it back."

The tiger glared at the man, as if not quite sure whether to trust him or attack him. It looked away after a moment, as if thinking.

"Fury said he really wants you in on this," The man, Steve Rogers, added.

The tiger then nodded, and gracefully leaped off the bed and loped into the bathroom off the bedroom. A few moments later, a young woman, looking to be in her early twenties, walked out. She had orange, shaggy hair down to her shoulders, which she swept out of her amber eyes, the same eyes of the tiger. She had long limbs, a slender body that was almost without any curves. She wore a dark red tank top and black jeans.

As she walked back to the bed, she bent to pick up a pair of black boots. She slipped her feet into them, and propped one foot onto the bed and started tying the shoe.

"If Fury asked, then I'll do it." She said. "I'm in, Captain."

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Naomi Carson was leaned back in a seat on the helicopter taking her, Captain America, and Agent Coleson to the giant hovercraft that would serve as their base for this mission. Once again, she appeared asleep, but was listening to everything going on around her. Coleson and Rogers were talking about her.

"So… her," Rogers hesitated before continuing. "Her _powers _are that she can turn into any cat she wants to?"

"Yes, sir." Coleson confirmed.

"That's a little… weird." Steve muttered.

"I heard that, Cap," Naomi said, giving the super soldier a warning look. "It's not like I chose it."

"Then how _did _you get…" he paused. "This way?"

"We're landing," Coleson interrupted.

She spared Rogers one more glance before they both rose to look out the window. The giant hovercraft was bigger than Naomi could have imagined. Soldiers marched about, led by their drill sergeants, and there were dozens of aircraft along the top, where their helicopter was about to land. It hit the deck with a clanking sound of metal hitting metal. Coleson led them out and over to another man.

"This is Dr. Bruce Banner; Banner, this is Steve Rogers and Naomi Carson," Phil introduced them.

But Naomi wasn't paying attention; she already knew who the doctor was; a pioneer in gamma radiation. Everything had gone horribly wrong, though He now turned into a monster whenever he was angry.

"Oh, yeah… they said you'd be coming," Banner said, addressing Steve and Naomi.

"Word is you can find the cube," Rogers commented, not bothering to greet the doctor.

"Is that the only word I mean to you?"

"The only one that matters," Captain America replied. Naomi knew exactly who Rogers was, too. She had done a few Shield missions, and knew the people they had their eye on.

Another woman, one with red hair, walked up to the group. "They need you inside," she told Coleson. "They're starting the face trace."

"Hey, Natasha," Naomi greeted the woman. She and Agent Romanoff knew each other, and liked each other well enough, though they had plenty of disagreements as well.

"Hi, Carson," Natasha replied, not looking at the younger woman.

Naomi looked around. "Where's Barton? You two are usually inseparable," Naomi smirked.

Romanoff looked at her sharply. "Been compromised. We think he's alive, but Loki has him under some kind of spell."

Naomi frowned. "I'm sorry. I didn't know." She couldn't offer any more condolences than that. She couldn't say she was sure he'd be alright. This was too unpredictable to say that. Spells, magic? Even with her own powers, Naomi didn't really believe anything like that existed.

Natasha just nodded and said, "You guys might want to go inside. It's going to get kind of hard to breathe out here in a second."

An engine of immeasurable size started up. "Is this a submarine?" Steve asked in wonder.

"Really? They want me in a submerged pressurized metal container?" Banner laughed. Then the whirring propellers went faster and faster. They started to make the huge ship rise out of the water. "Oh, this is much worse," Bruce muttered.

Naomi just patted his shoulder and followed Agent Romanoff inside.

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"Naomi!" Nick Fury said in as happy a voice as anyone ever heard. He wrapped the young woman in his arms and gave her a kiss on top of her head.

"Since when did Fury even _like _anyone enough to hug them, let alone kiss them?" Bruce asked.

"Since he's basically been her father since she was fourteen, after he rescued her," Natasha replied.

"Rescued her?" Bruce and Steve asked in unison.

The Black Widow just shook her head and pursed her lips as the two that were the subject of their conversation walked closer.

"Romanoff, you can take the doctor to the lab," fury said.

"I'll come with," Naomi volunteered. "I might be able to help a little bit with the computers"

Natasha nodded and led Carson and Banner off.

Naomi's Point of View

I squinted at the computer screen. A strand of orange hair fell into my face, but I quickly brushed it away, intent on the screen before me. I stiffened and quickly closed the window on the screen as someone walked up behind me. I turned around, and met the eyes of none other than Captain America.

"What were you doing?" he asked suspiciously.

I leaned back against the desk the computer behind me sat on and drummed my fingers against the top of the desk. I contemplated lying for a moment, but decided against it. "I was looking at the footage we have of Loki."

"Why?" he asked, seeming startled.

_Nosy, aren't you?_ I thought with a sigh. I didn't meet his eyes as I answered. "Sometimes, it seems like you can get to know a person just by looking at them." I muttered the reply, a little embarrassed.

He gave me an odd look, but didn't say anything.

"I know, it's silly," I murmured. "My mom used to tease me and my sister because we would stare at the school yearbook for hours, trying to figure out people's personalities and secrets, even though we had never met them. It was kind of a game, making up their lives just based on their pictures. That was before my family died," I finished. "I haven't tried to play that game with people's pictures for a long time."

He moved to my side and leaned against the desk, too. "You know, Coleson didn't tell me how you got your powers. He told me about Tony Stark and Banner, but not about you. How'd it happen?"

"I'm not in the mood for telling my life story, thanks." I said very quietly, my left hand going unconsciously to the crook of my right elbow. "It's not exactly something I want to make public."

"Did your family dying have anything to do with it?" he asked.

I started to nod, my left hand squeezing the inside of my right elbow, but I stopped nodding. "I said I don't want to talk about it."

"I just wanted to know," he said defensively.

"And I don't feel like telling you. I'm not the kind of person to jump at the opportunity to get pitied for my problems. I'm not interested in being comforted like a child." I snapped. I abruptly sat down at the computer and started going over Dr. Selvig's notes about the Tesseract, hoping that Rogers would get the message that I wanted to be left alone.

"We're not that different, Carson," he murmured to me.

"You don't know anything about me," I said flatly.

"I know you've had to adjust to how the world is now, compared to how it was before, when you didn't have to deal with your abilities."

I stifled a yawn. I didn't want friends. I didn't want to rely on anyone, just to have my heart broken when they were gone. So pushing people away was easier than getting close to them.

"I know your whole world was turned upside down by what happened to you. You think I don't know what that's like?" he asked, concern in his voice. "I don't want to know so I can pity you. I want to know so I can understand you."

I stared at the screen, not because I was interested in what was on it, it was just to keep from looking at him "Leave me alone," I said firmly.

He didn't reply, and when I looked up, he was gone. I sighed in relief. I tried to concentrate on Selvig's notes for a while, but it was all Greek to me. I was good with computers, sure, but I was not a nuclear physicist.

Nervously, with a quick glance around, I closed the file of Selvig's notes and opened the small collection of video footage I had had open before the captain had interrupted me. I stared at the screen, frowning.

Drumming my fingers against the desk, I tried to piece together Loki's personality, feelings, and plan by using the small clips from the base before it had blown up. There wasn't much. There were only a few minutes of video: from the time he had arrived through the Tesseract to the time he had gotten into the car with Agent Barton and driven off.

There wasn't even much I could really piece together about Loki himself. From what I could deduce, he seemed to be arrogant, for sure. Self-assured, I was almost sure, but at times he didn't seem as sure as he would like others to believe. That might be a weakness, but it might have just been my imagination; a desperation to find something to exploit.

Soon I wasn't trying to learn about him anymore. Soon I was simply watching the videos over and over again simply because Loki was… fascinating.

Oddly enough, I was interested in him. And not just for the sake of the mission. With a sigh, I shook my head. I shouldn't be thinking about this kind of thing.

As I started to close the file, Natasha said behind me, "We found out where Loki is."

I jumped as she spoke. "I told you not to sneak up behind me like that. I hate it when you do that."

"You're a cat aren't you? You should be able to hear me."

I smiled and rolled my eyes. She always said that when I complained about her sneaking up on me. "So where is he?" I stood up and stretched. "I could get away for a while. Wait, Captain's going, isn't he? Maybe I don't want to go then."

"What's wrong with Rogers?" Romanoff asked.

"Basically being nosy. I told him I don't want to talk and he wouldn't leave me alone." I shrugged.

"You ever think maybe you're just being overly defensive?" She asked, cocking her head to one side.

"_Me? Defensive?_ Never!" I laughed. "Yes, I'm defensive, and that's my problem, not his." I ran my hand through my hair and then shook my head. "You didn't say where Loki is."

"Germany."

Late that night, Black Widow, Captain America, and I, the Huntress, were crowded up at the front of the hovercraft we had taken from the mother ship, as I liked to call it. Below us, there was a crowd running from a building, terror in their eyes.

"Now?" I asked, glancing at the two by my side.

"Not yet." Romanoff said firmly. "Wait until he shows himself."

"…And if he doesn't show up? What if he's already left?" I asked suspiciously.

The Captain put his hand on my shoulder. "We'll get him, don't worry about that."

I turned around in my co-pilot seat to glare at the hand on my shoulder, and then looked up to glare at him. He quickly removed the hand from my shoulder.

"Guys, look," Natasha ordered, pointing out the front of the window. A figure walked calmly out of the building.

"I said _kneel!_" his voice shouted loud enough for us to hear, even from where we were, behind the bulletproof glass of the hovercraft, high above him.

"Alright, I'm going in," Rogers said, leaving Natasha and me alone in the front of the flying machine.

I leaned forward, nervous, and stared out the window as Loki shot something out of his scepter at an old man who wasn't kneeling. Rogers managed to block the bolt of energy just in time. I let out a whoosh of breath in relief and collapsed back into the seat for a moment before leaning forward again, staring at the scene below.

After a few moments, I asked, "Do you think he needs help? Should I go down there?"

"I don't think—" Natasha was cut off as a warning flashed on the screen on the dashboard.

P.A. System Override.

"Agent Romanoff, did you miss me?" a voice asked through the speakers inside the craft. Then a song by AC/DC blared out, the sound spilling out over the square below us as well.

I glanced at Romanoff, a questioning look on my face. "Stark," she muttered to me.

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**Note from the LoquaciousQuibbler: Okeydokey, I know not too much happened in this chapter. Just please bear with me a little longer. This first chapter was mainly to introduce Naomi's character and to kind of show where she is the first few scenes of the Avengers movie. Next chapter, Naomi meets Loki for the first time. This'll be good… **

_Note from darkonesroses: hallo peoples! First off, Naomi makes me laugh. Second off, gotta love my sister's writing. Third off, please comment. And if you catch any spelling mistakes or grammatical errors, my apologies, neither of us are perfect. Hugs and loves!_

**LQ: I AM PERFECT! IT'S YOUR SMEGGING PROOF READING!**

_Darkonesroses: jeez..._


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Happy now?

I sat in the back of the hovercraft, directly across from Loki. Captain America and Iron Man stood in the corner, talking quietly. I caught random snatches of conversation, about Loki, or, as Stark put it, 'Rock of Ages', giving up so easily.

I glanced their way, but stayed silent and returned my gaze to Loki. He stared determinedly at the floor, refusing to look anywhere else. That frustrated me. I felt as if maybe, if I could look into his eyes, I could get his plan. If he had even planned this far.

Suddenly thunder and lightning crashed outside. I froze, like a deer in headlights.

"What, you afraid of a little lightning?" Captain America asked.

I glowered at him and was about to make a snappy reply when Loki answered, "I'm not overly fond of what follows.

I relaxed. He hadn't been asking me. He had been asking Loki. I looked curiously at the god. "Afraid of thunder?" I asked.

Loki shrugged, giving me a smirk. "Looks like I'm not the only one."

My face flushed. So he had seen my own fear of the thunder, too. I shot him a glare, but he just looked satisfied at my reaction. "Smeghead," I muttered under my breath.

"Thunder's not the dangerous part." Stark commented. "It's lightning that's the problem. Being afraid of thunder is like being afraid of a freaky noise, but not being afraid of what's causing it."

"Shut up, Stark." I muttered, embarrassed of my own reaction to the thunder.

"What? It's the lightning that's making the noise, and the thunder is the noise. Being afraid of the sound but not what's causing it is-"

I stood up. "I said _shut the he-_´I was cut off by a bang on the ceiling.

"What was that?" Captain America said in an almost panicky voice.

Next thing I knew, someone wearing a cape came in through the back of the aircraft, grabbed Loki, and was leaving out the back again.

In an instant, I transformed into a cheetah, and was about to leap after them, but Captain America blocked my way. I growled and went around him, but they were already gone. I snapped my powerful jaws at the Captain before transforming back into a human, my amber eyes still fixed on him. "Now what, genius? If he frees Loki or kills him, the Tesseract is lost."

"We can't just go rushing in like that. We need a plan of attack," he explained.

"_I _have a plan," Tony said, walking over to the now gaping back of the hovercraft. "Attack."

In a moment, he was gone too. I glared at Rogers before grabbing a parachute and starting to prepare it. He followed suit.

"You two might want to stay out of this," Natasha said from the front.

"Someone has to watch the idiot's back," I called back up to her.

"I don't see how we can stay out of it," the Captain added.

"These guys come from legend; they're basically gods," Agent Romanoff warned.

"There's only one god, ma'am," he replied. "And I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that."

"You get Stark's back, I'll make sure Loki doesn't get away," I told Rogers, leaving no room for questions.

"Are you sure that you can-?"

"Did I stutter? Did I say maybe? Yes, I'm sure," I snapped. And then we jumped.

Several freezing minutes later, we touched down. "See you in a few," I said as a farewell to Rogers before changing into a cheetah and racing away.

This was one of my favorite parts about being able to turn into felines. This pure adrenaline rush as cat senses took over in the heat of a hunt. Exactly how I found him, I'm not entirely sure, but soon enough, I spotted Loki. He wasn't running. He wasn't hiding. He was simply leaning against a tree. We were still close enough to hear the battle of Iron man and Loki's kidnapper. I wasn't sure if it was a trap, but I hoped it wasn't as I charged full speed ahead at Loki. Using the momentum I had as a cheetah, I leaped, transformed into a tiger, and hit… nothing. I had planned to hit him, pin him to the ground, and hold him there until the others came. But instead, I had hit nothing. I had leaped toward him... and then he was gone.

I landed heavily on the ground, shaking dead leaves from my striped fur, my paws scrabbling to regain my balance. I whirled around, looking for him. My cat vision found him quickly. He was leaning casually against a tree, looking rather haughty and superior. I stared at him and growled, my cat mouth unable to form human words, and so he couldn't hear the string of insults I put into my growl.

There was silence for a moment.

"Have you quite finished then?" he asked.

I glared at him, waiting unsurely.

Neither of us made a move. After a moment I changed my form back into that of a human. "Now what?" I asked him.

He leaned his back against a tree again. "Now I suppose we wait for your friends to stop fighting." He was silent again, staring off towards where the fighting was going on.

"So, what, now you're just giving yourself up?" I asked.

He smirked, throwing a glance my way. "I'm not giving up at all."

I drew my handgun out of my belt. I raised it and pointed it at his head. "Alright, you're going to tell me what's going on here, who that guy was, and why you're letting yourself get captured."

He glanced at the gun disinterestedly. "You're not going to shoot me, are you, agent...?" he trailed off. "I don't believe we've been properly introduced."

"Carson," I said immediately, without thinking. I shook my head, berating myself for even answering him. "I don't think that's very important right now," I responded. "And yes, I will shoot you."

"No, you won't."

"You willing to bet your life on it?" I threatened, starting to get angry. I moved closer every few seconds until my gun was only a few inches from his forehead and I was standing only about a foot away from him.

"Actually, I am," he said arrogantly.

I stared at him blankly. "What makes you think I won't blow your brains out right now?"

"You need me to get any clue of where the Tesseract could be. I can't imagine anyone would be very happy with you if you killed off the only chance you have of finding it again," he smirked.

I swallowed. It was true. I hadn't actually been planning to shoot him at all; I had just hoped I could intimidate him into giving me some kind of information. In fact, I still might be able to. I moved the gunpoint from his forehead to his shoulder. "Okay, I can't kill you, but no one said you have to be unharmed."

"You certainly are tenacious, I'll admit," he sighed. "The other man was my brother, Thor. And I'm not simply allowing myself to get captured. You caught me and there's no way I can escape."

"Yeah, right," I retorted. "You were just waiting here to get recaptured. If you wanted to escape, you could."

"Do you want me to escape then?" he asked.

"Well, no," I conceded, startled.

"Well, then, Agent Carson, what are you complaining about?" he wasn't meeting my eyes and was completely ignoring the gun pressed into his shoulder. We might as well have been talking in a restaurant having lunch for all he cared.

I frowned suspiciously. "If you have no way of escaping, then how is it that you just disappeared when…?" I trailed off. How was I supposed to finish this sentence anyway? 'When I epically failed at trying to pin you to the ground?'

"When you tried to tackle me, you mean?" he asked in a scathing voice, meeting my eyes again, looking smug.

I just glared at him, hoping my face wasn't turning red, and if it was, that he couldn't see it. "If you can't escape, then how can you manage that with no problems? Seems like that might be able to help in a situation."

"I might be able to avoid capture for a short time using that technique, but it would only prolong the chase, and, quite frankly, it's been a long night."

I stared at him in disbelief. I almost wanted to laugh, but wasn't sure I should. "Fine. Then what was the point of not letting me pin you?" I asked.

"Simple. I don't want my clothes to be dirty when I take over the world, and who knows if I'll have the chance to clean up before that happens? It's going to be happening rather soon, you know."

Now I really did want to laugh. "Vanity, much?" I asked, smiling, not being able to help it.

"Not so much vanity as demanding respect. Who could respect a world conqueror that's covered in dirt?" he rolled his eyes. "I certainly wouldn't."

I looked at him curiously. Why am I suddenly enjoying talking to you? I asked silently. I was suddenly aware of our nearness to each other. Only about a foot separated us. I noticed how tall he was; almost a head taller than me. I suddenly felt small, realizing how much I had to tilt my head back to look into his eyes. I slowly took my gun away from his shoulder and backed away, leaning against another tree. I kept my eye on him, but we didn't talk. Occasionally he would glance at me; they were just quick glances, as if to make sure I wasn't doing anything I wasn't supposed to be. I still held my gun, but it was now pointed at the ground in front of me, simply at the ready. Just in case I needed it, it was there. But I found I didn't want to shoot him. He was kind of funny, in an odd way.

In those silent minutes, my mind wandered. I ended up thinking about earlier, looking at the video footage we had of Loki. I had been a little bit right about his personality, but I hadn't gotten everything. I had imagined he was arrogant and confident. I hadn't thought he would have a sense of humor, albeit one that most people would find irritating or too self-centered, but one that I found funny. I hadn't thought he would be afraid of thunder. Like me.

I didn't like it. Being able to almost relate to someone I was supposed to hate. Yet just a few minutes ago, I had been talking to him, and enjoying it. It made me feel uneasy. I wasn't supposed to enjoy the company of the person we were fighting against. And yet here I was, wishing I could think of something for us to talk about.

As he glanced at me again, I asked, "What are you thinking about?"

He met my eyes, and was silent, as if thinking of the right lie to tell me. Finally, he just said, "Nothing." And he looked away again.

There was more silence, and then he asked, "What are you thinking about, Agent Carson?"

I considered. What was I thinking about, anyway? "Ways to make standing here with a god who would like to take over the world while waiting for my friends and his brother to stop fighting and come and find us less awkward," I said honestly, not being able to help the cautious smile spreading across my face.

He gave me a small smile.

"Sounds kind of bizarre, doesn't it?" I asked.

"It does," he agreed. "And that's not even the whole thing, either. You forgot to mention that your friends are a man in a suit of metal that can fly, and your other friend is a man who is nearly one hundred years old and yet looks less than thirty."

"Not to mention that I can turn into any cat I want to, and your brother is the god of thunder," I added. "I swear, this is sounding weirder by the second."

"You didn't realize how odd the situation is until now?"

"Honestly, I don't really think about these kinds of things unless I've got time to burn and nothing else to do," I shrugged.

"Is there something else you'd rather be doing?" he asked.

Yes. Arguing, fighting, attacking; anything but having a civilized conversation with you. Anything to make me stop enjoying your company. But instead, I just said, "Not really, I guess." I reconsidered for a moment. "Actually, yes. One thing."

He studied me for a moment. "And what would that-?"

He was cut off as I pounced, in tiger form, and pinned him to the ground. I transformed into a human once again. My left knee was digging into his stomach, my right knee was on the ground, and my hands were in the soil on either side of his head. My face was level with his. "Ha," I said proudly.

He glared at me. "And what did you do that for?"

A feral grin spread across my face. "A couple of reasons actually. One, just to spite you and your 'not wanting to get dirty. Two, just to have my own satisfaction of being able to say I once pinned a god to the ground. And three, so that I can make the joke of saying, 'There. Someone is finally kneeling before you. Happy now?'"

He continued to glare at me as I enjoyed my moment of victory.

"Having fun, I see, Agent Carson," someone said behind me.

In an instant, I had jumped up and scrambled away from Loki. I sighed and glared at the trio who had just entered the clearing.

"Very funny, Stark," I growled. "Your mind always jumps to the worst conclusions, doesn't it?"

"What can I say? I call 'em as I see 'em. We walk in, see you on the ground with a guy, looking deep into each other's eyes, and when I say something, you scramble away quickly as you can. Doesn't take a genius to put the pieces together. That's not to say that I'm not a genius, it's just a figure of speech," he added. "So easy to figure out, Rogers here could probably do it," he clapped Captain America on the shoulder.

"Thanks so much for the compliment to my intelligence, Mr. Stark," Captain America said under his breath.

I rolled my eyes. "Let's just go already. You're done beating each other up, right?" I asked, glancing between Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor.

"We've settled our differences," Thor said. "Well done not letting Loki get away, Agent Carson."

I glanced at Loki again. He was looking back at me with raised eyebrows. I quickly looked back at the others. I wasn't sure if I should tell them that he hadn't been trying to get away at all. It probably didn't matter that much anyway, did it?

"Did he say anything that might help us?" Captain America prompted.

"No," I said. At least that was true. He hadn't actually said anything that would help find the Tesseract, except that I couldn't kill him if we wanted to find it. We had already known that anyway. "Let's just go now," I snapped, throwing one last nervous glance at Loki, who gave me a smirk.

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**Note from LoquaciousQuibbler: Poor Naomi gets so thrown off by Loki... Just wait. Soon enough he's gonna be getting thrown off by her, too. That's when it gets really interesting. ;)**

_Note from darkonesroses: ok, I totally ship naoki. That's what we call their ship, naomi, loki, naoki. I love this story, and please comment if you do too. Hugs and loves!_


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Well, that escalated quickly…

When we got back to base, we had some time to relax. No, I take that back. Natasha, Rogers, and I had time to relax while Banner and Stark were supposed to be working on tracking the Tesseract. Thor had to talk to Fury and Coleson about something, but eventually we were all in the operating room.

Stark and Banner were talking about something having to do with radiation, some kind of barrier, Kelvin, and 'kick starting the cube'. I had no clue what they were talking about.

"When did you become an expert in thermonuclear science?" Agent Hill asked Stark.

"Last night," he said. WE all stared at him blankly. "Selvig's notes. The extraction theory papers?" No one said anything. I simply shook my head. "Am I the only one who did the reading?" Tony asked.

"Did I read it? Yes," I said. "Did I understand a word of it? Not really. I'm more of a spy than a rocket scientist."

"It's not rocket science," Stark rolled his eyes.

"I'm aware," I snapped. "My point is, not everyone is a technology and scientific genius, Stark."

"No, the point is that you are of no help whatsoever on this mission," Tony replied. "Now why don't you and Mr. America there skedaddle and leave the scientists to their jobs, hm?"

I glared at him. "I think I'm going to stay and listen just to spite you."

"Whatever. I don't care," Stark waved his hand and continued talking to Banner.

Captain America sidled over to me, where I stood with my arms crossed and a glare fixed on my face. "Don't worry about him; he's a jerk," he muttered to me.

I glanced at him and rolled my eyes. "No, really? I hadn't noticed."

"If it makes you feel any better, I have no clue what they're talking about either."

"Great. I'm on the same level as someone who probably doesn't know what a refrigerator is. Yay. Lucky me," I said sulkily.

"Actually, I do know what a refrigerator is."

My lips twitched in an almost smile. "That's good to know, I guess. You know how to use a computer?"

"No," he admitted.

"Well, that's a relief. At least that means I know something you don't," I grinned.

"Could you teach me how?" he asked suddenly.

"How what? To use a computer?" I considered. "Maybe." I reconsidered. "We're going to have to start with the very basics, aren't we?"

"Basics? How complicated does it get?"

"Extremely." I smiled deviously, thinking of how confused I could make him if I started explaining everything.

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So after what seemed like an eternity of teaching Rogers how to use a mouse, what a user name was, and the general idea of what the internet was, I wanted to jump off a cliff. To distract myself from that urge, I asked Thor what the whole story was with him and Loki. So he told me exactly what had happened, and why Loki wanted revenge and why he wanted to rule the world. And after that, I went to go bug Banner and Stark some more.

As a small orange house cat, I trotted into the room. I wove around Tony's legs and meowed once.

"Very cute. I will kick you, you know," he said, barely glancing down at me.

My amber cat eyes stared at him in that creepy way that a cat can stare at you. Then I bunched up my back leg muscles and jumped up onto the table. I sat down and transformed into a human again. I was sitting on the table with my legs dangling off the side.

"Wouldn't it be easier just to walk in and sit down?" Tony asked.

"Doesn't make much difference to me anymore. After being able to turn into a cat for eight years, you kind of get used to switching forms all the time. Besides, it's pretty fun to be able to jump onto something three times your height with no problem," I nodded knowingly.

"I suppose you'd be the expert on that, kitty?"

"You got a problem with cats Mr. Stark?" I asked.

"Just one cat in particular," he replied.

"Ouch," I said sarcastically. "Good thing I don't care." I picked a blueberry out of a bag on the table.

"I thought it would be strictly milk and cans of tuna," tony commented as I popped the blueberry into my mouth.

I glared at him. "Why is it everybody assumes that just because I can turn into a cat, that I'll have all kinds of cat habits?"

"I don't know, just makes for some very fun insults and comments. Like calling you a crazy cat lady. Or greeting you with 'What's new, pussycat?'" he shrugged.

"I'm sure you have lots of fun thinking of that kind of stuff, don't you?" I sighed.

"Plus you do act like a cat, sometimes," banner said from a little ways across the room. If a cat could talk, they'd probably sound just like you."

"If that's the case, then why doesn't Stark only drink blood? He sure seems like a bloodsucking parasite to me. If mosquitoes could talk, they'd sound just like tony," I commented, looking pointedly at Tony when I said it.

"Ouch. Good thing I don't care," Tony said in a squeaky, high pitched voice that was apparently supposed to be mimicking me.

"Well played, Stark. Anyways, now that the ritual insults are out of the way," I said briskly. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to teach someone how to use a computer with no previous knowledge?"

"I assume you're talking about Rogers?" tony asked.

"Yeah," I sighed. "I had to explain how you use a mouse to him. It's pathetic. Not that it's his fault, but you'd think he would have made some effort to transition into this century."

"I'm sure the fact that my toaster has more brains than that guy doesn't really help either," Tony said.

Banner and I both snorted.

"Well, at least we agree on something," I grinned. "Though now that I think of it, with the stuff you invent, any toaster you own probably has an IQ of about a thousand."

"You know, I've never actually tested its IQ, but yeah, you're probably pretty close."

I glanced at Banner. "How can you stand being in the same room with this guy for so long, anyway?"

"By participating in the conversation as little as possible. Eventually he stops talking," Bruce shrugged.

I feigned a shocked expression. "The great Tony Stark? He's able to stop talking?"

"Sounds impossible, I know," Bruce smiled.

"I am capable of silence," tony said.

"Could you please give us a demonstration?" I asked brightly. "Like, for the rest of eternity?"

"I'd like to see that," Captain America said behind us.

I jerked in surprise and twisted around. "How long have you been here?"

"Few seconds. Why?" he asked.

"No reason," I swept the hair out of my face nervously and gave Banner and Stark a meaningful look, silently telling them to keep shut about what I had said about him.

Tony smirked at me, as if to say 'Don't you wish I listened to you?' Then he turned to Steve with a mockingly bright expression. "Have fun learning about something most seven year olds can do?" Tony asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean learning how to use a mouse," Stark said.

"It's hard if you've never done it before," Rogers said defensively.

"Okay, subject change," I interrupted.

They all turned to stare at me.

"I just don't think we should be arguing about how hard it is to learn how to use a mouse," I shrugged. "So did anyone else notice how eerily similar Thor and Loki are to Mufasa and Scar from 'The Lion King'?

There was silence for a moment.

"The what?" Thor asked from the entrance to the room, where he stood with Natasha.

"Oh, hey," I waved halfheartedly. "And you guys have never seen 'The Lion King'? Good God, what kind of horrible childhoods did you have, anyway?"

"Horrible childhood? You're the one who had to watch that Disney garbage, apparently," Stark said in a disgusted voice.

"My childhood was way before any of those movies came out," Steve said, shrugging helplessly.

"I just never watched those movies," Banner said indifferently.

"I grew up in Russia," Natasha said, shaking her head.

"What's a movie?" Thor asked.

I looked up at the ceiling, in utter disbelief. I sighed a moment. "Okay, you two have an excuse," I said finally, pointing at Thor and Natasha. "The rest of you do not. Never seeing the classic Disney's," I shook my head. "That's right, Captain, you do not have an excuse. When you woke up, you should have tried to get up to speed on the world. You two…" I trailed off, staring between the two scientists. "I don't know what I'm going to do with you. We're going to have to have a movie marathon one of these days and make all of you watch some Disney."

"Until then, can you explain 'The Lion King' to those of us who don't know it?" Rogers asked, looking slightly annoyed.

With a deep sigh, I said, "I can't believe I have to explain a children's movie to a roomful of geniuses, gods, super soldiers, and super spies." So I launched into the tale of how Mufasa, the older brother, was given the throne, but his younger brother Scar was always planning to take over. "So, yeah. Thor and Loki, Mufasa and Scar."

Tony and Natasha looked rather unimpressed, Thor and the Captain looked somewhat puzzled, and Dr. Banner looked somewhat amused.

"I was just pointing out the random similarities I noticed," I muttered. "I'm not insane or anything, I just realized it's basically the same kind of back story."

Can you say, 'Awkward silence'?

"On a totally different subject, can I ask you something about your powers, Carson?" Stark asked.

"You can ask, doesn't mean I'll answer," I warned.

"Okay, say you're in a cat form. House cat, whatever," he started.

I nodded slowly, wondering where this could possibly be going.

"And then say you were impregnated by another cat," he continued.

"Wait, _what?!_" I shrieked.

"Well, that escalated quickly," I heard Romanoff mutter.

"Let me finish, let me finish," Stark said, holding up his hand. "So then you would turn back into a human. Would the kid end up being human or cat?"

I stared at him, my mouth open. "Dude, did you really just go there?"

"Or, say, you were in human form, were impregnated by a human, and gave birth as a cat. Then would the kid be human or cat? Would it have the same powers as you, would it change shape as you did while it was inside of you, or would you be a human with kittens inside of you or a cat with a human baby inside of you, or-?"

"Okay, stop it," I ordered, my face burning. I looked around the room to see what everyone else's reaction was to this. Banner looked very busy stirring his coffee, Rogers was rubbing the back of his neck in an embarrassed sort of 'I'm not sure how I'm supposed to react to this conversation' sort of way, Thor seemed to find the floor very interesting, and Natasha apparently thought the ceiling was fascinating.

I looked back at Tony, who stood with a satisfied look of feigned innocence. "I'm simply wondering how all of this would work."

"Alright, look, Stark. I haven't been _experimenting_ with trying to find out what my offspring would be like, got it? And I hope you realize just how big of an irritating idiot you are. You had to bring that up? Seriously that's like asking Bruce what would happen if he got a girl pregnant while he was the Hulk."

"Oh, come on, please don't drag me into this," Bruce groaned.

"Sorry," I muttered as Stark looked at banner critically.

"You know, that's a valid question. What do you think would happen if-?"

We all moaned and avoided each other's gazes as if we were in some Health class in high school while our teacher gave us a lecture about reproduction and sex education.

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**Author's Note: Hee hee. Sorry. Kind of. **

**Poor Naomi and Bruce. Tony's so irritating, ain't he? …But funny. Anyway, this chapter has, like, nothing to do with the rest of the story I just wanted to write it. Next chapter is my favorite one. It's more Naomi/Loki. Promise, it's good. **

_Note from darkonesroses: Yeah, ok, Tony is annoying. Just... way too annoying. I love my Bruce Banner. -squee and hugs him- please please comment. _


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Double Negatives and riddles

"Why do you want to be here?" I asked as I rounded the corner and locked eyes with Loki, my arms crossed.

"Who says I want to be here?" Loki asked in response.

"It's pretty easy to figure out," I shrugged. "You basically let yourself get captured. I came to the conclusion that you want to be here."

"Yes, conclusion based on incomplete and partial knowledge."

I rolled my eyes. "You sound just like Tony. Only, a little more eloquent."

He was silent and just looked at me. His gaze unsettled me. The way he looked at me made me feel like he could see into my soul.

I changed tactics. "Okay, so, do you want to be here?" I asked.

"I don't not want to be here," he smirked.

I narrowed my eyes. _Challenge accepted,_ I thought. "Interesting answer. Would you like to hear whether or not I want to be here?"

When he didn't answer, I proceeded.

"It would not be entirely inaccurate to not say that I don't not want to be here. There is a definite possibility for me to not want to be here, but it is negated by the fact that I contrarily don't want to not be here. On the other hand, my not wanting to not be here is undermined by your not wanting to not be here, so as you can see, it's hopelessly confused." I gave him my sweetest smile as he narrowed his eyes, trying to follow what I just said.

"So you would want to be here, if I didn't want to be here." He said finally.

I sighed. "I was hoping you wouldn't be able to figure that one out."

The sides of his mouth curled up in the hint of a smile. "I'm afraid I'm not that easy to trick."

"Is that so?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "Then you must be an expert at riddles. Answer this one then:

Little Nancy eddicoat,

In a white petticoat,

With a red nose.

The longer she stands, the shorter she grows."

I waited a moment, hoping he wouldn't get it.

"Candle," he answered, as if without much thought.

"Fine," I sighed disappointed. "You're right."

"If you're such a clever girl, then you must be good at riddles, too," he commented, a wicked glint in his eye.

"Fire away," I challenged, now excited, though also dreading whatever unfathomable riddle he would conjure.

"If you insist," he smirked.

"Always runs, never walks

, often murmurs, never talks.

Has a bed but never sleeps;

Has a mouth but never eats."

I leaned back against the railing on the path that led to the glass cage. I frowned and glared at him. He looked back, amusement in his eyes. We stood in silence a moment while I tried to puzzle out the riddle. I repeated the words to myself quietly and glared at him some more.

"Give up?" he asked.

"Never," I said solemnly. "Hang on, a river, right?"

He nodded, looking as disappointed as I had felt when he answered my riddle.

"Okay, give me a second and I'll think of another one for you," I said, feeling rather high and mighty. "Okay, how about this? I need air to live, though I am not alive. If you give me water, I will die. I have no mouth, but devour everything I can. What am I?"

It was only a few seconds before he answered, "Fire."

"Smeg you," I muttered. "I know that one's easy, but I was hoping you wouldn't get it."

"You've got to try harder than that," Loki teased.

"Alright, give me another one," I ordered.

"I walk on four legs in the morning, two in the afternoon, and three in the evening," he recited. "What am I?"

"A man," I answered immediately.

He gaped at me. "How did you know that one so fast?"

"I've known that one since I was little," I dismissed. "Everyone who's ever heard of a sphinx knows that one. Well, the sphinx as a mythical creature, not as the Egyptian statue anyway. "One look at his blank face told me he had no idea what I was talking about. "Forget it; just let me think of another one."

"I can answer any riddle you ask, no matter how hard you try," he said arrogantly.

"You realize that just makes me more determined to find a riddle you can't solve," I muttered. "Okay, here's one that confuses most people. The more you take away from me, the bigger I become. What am I?"

He looked at me curiously for a moment, opened his mouth to say something, then closed it and sank into deep thought.

I smiled, trying not to laugh at how hard he was concentrating.

After about twenty seconds of silence, he exclaimed, "A hole!"

I laughed. "S- Sorry, but..." I tried to get a hold of myself. "You look like you've just conquered the world not solved a riddle."

The triumphant look fell from his face, replaced with a glare. "Don't laugh at me."

I tried to hide my smile. "And you sound like a child saying that, you know."

He glared at me without saying anything.

"Okay, look, if you can't even take me laughing at you a little, then I'll go. And then you can just think about how you ruined a good game of riddles just because you're apparently sensitive about being laughed at." I turned to walk away.

"Wait," came his voice from behind me.

I paused and looked over my shoulder. "What?" I asked after a moment of silence.

I turned around to get a good look at him, but now he looked as if he didn't know what to say.

"Well? You going to give me a reason I should wait or what?" I asked, acting tough, but hoping he would want me to stay.

"Don't go yet." He ordered.

"Now you're ordering me around? Last time I checked, you weren't in a position to start ordering people around. That doesn't come until you've conquered the world, and it doesn't appear to me like you've done that just yet, so…" I trailed off and shrugged.

"You amuse me," he said simply.

"Oh, well as long as I amuse you, then I guess I might as well start juggling, huh? Or should I do a little singing and dancing first?" I rolled my eyes.

He rolled his eyes back at me. "I want to see who's going to win our game of riddles."

I sighed, unsure of what to do. I finally gave in. "Only because I don't have anything else I need to be doing." I leaned against the rail once again. "Go ahead. Do your worst."

"How do you spell cold water with three letters?" he asked.

I was silent for a moment. "Ice," I answered, trying not to smile.

He nodded, and I could see he was trying to hide his own smile.

"Railroad tracks and railroad cars; can you spell that without any R's?" I asked.

He silently mouthed the words a few times. "T-H-A-T," he said smugly.

I sighed and nodded. "I don't think we're ever going to end this."

"There are only so many riddles in the world," he replied nonchalantly.

"And if we never find one that the other can't answer?" I asked.

He shrugged. "I'll find one that you can't answer."

"In your dreams," I scoffed. "But go ahead and try. It's your turn."

"What five letter word becomes shorter when you add two letters?" he asked.

I counted the letters quickly and said, "Short. Is that the best you can do? Really? That's easy."

He looked at me sulkily and muttered something about running out of ideas.

"I don't suppose you know much about the Bible?"

"The what?"

"That's what I thought. The Holy Book of Christianity. I know a good riddle about Adam and Eve, the first humans, but it wouldn't be fair if you don't know anything about it," I explained. "Don't suppose the animals on Asgard are the same either? I know a couple of good animal riddles, but you probably wouldn't get them either." I pondered a moment, trying to think of a good riddle. "Alright, solve this. Two dogs sit on a porch. One is fat, and the other is thin. The thin dog is the son of the fat dog but the fat dog is not the thin dog's father. How is this possible?"

A few silent moments passed before Loki said, "The fat dog is the thin dog's mother."

"Yeah," I sighed heavily. "Personally, I'm running out of riddles."

Loki was silent, frowning at the floor.

"Can you think of any more for me?" I asked hopefully.

"I'm thinking," he snapped.

I waited nervously, tapping my fingers against my leg.

"I am an odd number. Take away one letter and I am even. What am I?" he asked finally in a resigned voice.

"An odd number, but take away one letter and it's even," I repeated. I started going through a list of odd numbers in my head, randomly taking away letters to see what they became. I toyed around with the idea of odd numbers between twelve and twenty. For example, thirteen, take away the 'n' and it becomes thirty, kind of. But then, you could do that with all the odd numbers ending in 'teen'. I gave up on that and continued going through odd numbers.

The longer I thought about it, the more satisfied Loki looked. "Don't know it, do you?" he asked smugly.

"Shut it, I'm thinking," I mumbled, chewing on my lip. With a burst of hope, I realized that 'eleven' ended in the word 'even', but then I realized you would have to take away two letters to become even. But_ 'seven' _was only one letter away from 'even'.

"Seven!" I said triumphantly. "You have to take away the 's', and it becomes even."

He glared at me in a mutinous way.

"What?" I asked. "What's with the angry face?"

"You are starting to irritate me," he said. "I can't seem to outwit you, Agent Carson."

"Okay, you don't have to give me the death glare though," I said soothingly, trying not to smile. "I only know one more good riddle anyway."

"Go ahead," he sighed.

"I am the beginning of eternity and the end of time and space. What am I?" I asked him, standing up straight and hoping my final riddle was a good one.

"The beginning of eternity and the end of time and space," he repeated.

I barely breathed, as if I was afraid my breath would tell him the answer. I stared at him intently, hoping he wouldn't get it as if my life depended on it.

"Come on, the suspense is killing me," I whispered.

"Don't beg; it doesn't become you," he ordered, only glancing at me for half a second before looking away again, still thinking hard.

I blinked in surprise at his response to me, but then waited once again for him to figure out the riddle. It seemed like forever.

"What's the answer?" he asked angrily.

"You give up, then?" I asked, suddenly getting excited again.

He looked at me with a pained expression on his face, but didn't answer.

"I win, then?" I asked again, wanting to hear him say it.

He looked like he wanted to smack me. "You win," he muttered almost inaudibly.

I grinned broadly. "Do I get bragging rights?" I asked.

"No," he snapped, "Now what's the answer?"

"Not telling until I win something from you," I teased, spirits rather high.

"You _win_ the game, isn't that enough?"

I gave him a look that said, _really? _

"Fine then. You win my respect," he said stonily.

I blinked in surprise once again. Somehow, I was happy with that reward. "Fine. Now, you want to know what the beginning of eternity and the end of time and space is?" I asked. "The beginning of eternity and the end of time and space is…" I trailed off for effect.

"The letter e!" Loki and I said together.

I looked at Loki, shocked. He looked as shocked as I was. "Wait, you got it?" I asked.

"Only just now," he said.

"But you said it at the same time I… so then.." I was confused now. "So you got my riddle at the moment before I told you the answer, but you already conceded defeat."

"Then does that mean I win?" he asked.

"No, you couldn't win, you already said I did," I said. "You already said you gave up."

"But I answered it before you told me," he protested.

"Yeah, you got it, but you already said I win. If you had told me I won, and then I walked off without telling you the answer, and you got it an hour later, I would still be the winner; you gave up. You just happened to get it two seconds after you said you gave up, and half a second before I told you the answer." I argued. I looked at him thoughtfully for a moment, marveling at the strange turn of events. "So I didn't beat you, but I still win."

"Is that even possible?" he asked incredulously.

"I guess so," I shrugged.

"That can't be right," he said under his breath.

"What do you want me to do? I can't exactly call a judge and have him rule who won, can I?" I rolled my eyes. "I'm probably not even supposed to be talking to you so I'm not gonna ask someone else's opinion on who won."

"Then why are you here?" he asked, his eyes flicking up to meet mine.

A smile spread across my face. "I was asking why you wanted to be here, remember?"

He smiled a little bit, just for a second. "We've strayed a ways from that subject, haven't we?"

I almost wanted to laugh. I traced our conversation backwards. I had asked him why he wanted to be here, he had answered with a double negative, I answered him with a lot of double negatives, then I challenged his cleverness, then the riddle contest had begun. "Weird the way a conversation can get off track," I murmured, still smiling.

"You…" he trailed off as I looked up at him again. He looked as if he was unsure what to say to me.

I waited a moment, not sure if I should say something to prompt him.

We locked eyes for a few seconds, but then he sighed and looked away. "You should go."

I hesitated a minute, still not sure what to say.

"They're probably wondering where you are. You wouldn't want to get in trouble," he continued.

This was getting interesting, I thought, looking at him curiously. "Now you're looking out for me?" I asked, making sure my voice sounded more amused than curious or touched.

He just rolled his eyes at me and started pacing the length of the small glass prison.

But I didn't want to leave now. I followed his progress with my eyes, pacing back and forth for a few more moments. I felt… strange. I had a weird, kind of constricted feeling in my stomach and chest. My heart was fluttering, and I felt kind of nervous, but also somewhat happy.

"Any particular reason you're still standing here in silence?" Loki asked in a voice that sounded like it had been forced to be careless and disinterested.

I pursed my lips. "I'm kind of curious… do I still have your respect?"

Loki smiled a little bit as he looked at me again. "I don't know why you would want my respect in the first place."

I smiled and shrugged. "I don't know. It's probably not worth a thing, is it? Your respect. It's just satisfying to know that I have someone's respect, you know."

Loki nodded slowly, as if thinking this over. "No, it's probably not worth a thing. But if you want my respect, I suppose you have it."

I nodded once. "That's all I wanted to know." I gave him a half-smile as we stood in another small silence, looking at each other for lack of anything better to do. He didn't seem as distant or arrogant now. Or maybe I was just getting used to his personality? That was an unsettling idea, wasn't it? I wasn't supposed to get used to being around him. Heck I wasn't supposed to be around him period, probably. Yet I was still enjoying it.

I lingered a moment longer and then said, "I know you probably don't want to hear this, what with being the big bad god trying to take over the world and all that, but I think you're a decent enough guy."

He paused, and looked at me with a curious frown. "Honestly, I'm not sure if I should take that as a compliment or an insult."

"Honestly," I responded, "I'm not sure which one I meant it as." I gave him a last half-smile, then I turned and left him alone.

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**Note from LoquaciousQuibbler: I loved writing this whole chapter. They're so cute and awkward and funny and sweet…. Sigh. Hope you learned some good riddles, if nothing else. My whole arsenal of riddles is in this chapter. Besides the Adam and Eve and animal ones. ;) **

**The next several chapters are all Naomi/Loki talking, just a heads up. Lots of angst and fluffiness and awkwardness. Hope you enjoy it!**

**(I look forward to comments on this chapter, BTW) **

_note from darkonesroses: Ok, this is also my fave chapter, or at least top 3. Naomi and Loki are absolutely adorable and I ship them so much. LQ actually learned some of the riddles from me and SHE DIDN'T SAY THANK YOU! But anyways, please comment. Hugs and loves!_

**YOU DIDN'T MAKE UP THE RIDDLE, I DON'T HAVE TO GIVE YOU CREDIT FOR IT! IT'S FREE GAME FOR ALL!**

_But I'm the one who taught it you you, dolt!_

**Smeghead...**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Childish Fears

It was the middle of the night when I returned to Loki's cell. I carried a plastic chair and a bag of sour gummy worms in my right hand, my drawing pad was tucked under my arm, and my iPod and a pencil were in my pocket. I was going to pull an all-nighter tonight. I couldn't sleep here, what with having to share a room with a few of the other agents. I always slept with the light on, and I wouldn't admit that to any other SHIELD agent. I would stay up all night, and get some sleep when this mission was over. Or maybe I'd get some sleep when the sun was out again.

I rounded the corner and stopped in surprise. "You're still up," I commented and continued walking.

"Evidently. And you're back," Loki said back smoothly.

"Evidently," I said, impersonating his accent. I set down my chair backwards, so it was facing away from the glass prison, and straddled it, one leg on each side of the back, and I propped my elbows on the back of it. "So how come you're not sleeping? Or are gods too good for sleep?"

"Why are you so disappointed that I'm not sleeping? Hoping to spy on me while I was unconscious?" he asked suspiciously.

"Not at all, I assure you. This is the only place on this entire ship that has the lights still on at this time and isn't packed full of either people operating the ship or Tony Stark. If you were asleep I was just going to irritate you by waking you up anyway" I smiled sweetly. "Besides," I said, and then spoke inn a British accent again. "You _amuse _me." For half a moment, I wondered if he was going to get mad at me for repeating his words to me from earlier. He frowned at me for a moment, as if deciding whether it was worth it. Then he just shrugged and gave me a small smile, as if to say, 'Touche.'

"So why aren't you asleep?" he asked after a brief, awkward silence.

I didn't answer for a little while as I scrolled through the albums, artists, and songs on my iPod, considering how I wanted to answer. "I never sleep at night," I said evasively.

He was quiet. I glanced up at him. He was looking at me thoughtfully.

"Is it alright if I put on some music?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

"You're afraid of the dark."

"What?" I asked, trying to sound as if that idea was ludicrous.

"You're afraid of the dark. That's why you don't sleep at night and you came here, where it's lit all night."

My left hand automatically moved to the crook of my right elbow and squeezed gently. I didn't answer.

"So you're afraid of the dark and you're afraid of thunder. Those are rather childish fears, Naomi," he continued.

I wanted to cry and scream at him at the same time, but a lump in my throat prevented it. My left hand squeezed my right arm harder._ Don't listen to him. He doesn't understand. He's trying to manipulate you,_ I told myself. But already the fear was creeping into my head. The memories of the constant thunder in my ears, the never ending darkness, and the searing, excruciating pain in my right arm, on the inside of my elbow. And not being able to move, being trapped inside my head, feeling nothing but pain, hearing nothing but my own thoughts and ceaseless thunder, and the constant darkness. It seemed like it would never end.

I wrenched myself out of the memory. Back to the present. I realized I was standing up, walking back and forth, and my cheeks were wet with tears I didn't know had been there. I forced myself to stop everything. Stop walking, stop crying, to remove my hand from the area of my arm where it no longer hurt, but had hurt for long before. I steadied my breath and angrily wiped the tears off my cheeks. I forced myself to look at Loki, afraid he would look triumphant, smug, patronizing, something that would make me feel like an idiot. Not that he would need to. I already felt like an idiot. But instead he looked concerned. Worried. Maybe even sorry. But I glared at him. I didn't know what to say to him now. Now that he knew I had a soft spot. One very easy to get to. Instead of saying anything, I just sat back down in my chair, this time facing away from him.

I waited a moment to see if he would say anything. When he didn't, I opened the bag of sour gummy worms.

A few more seconds of silence, and then, "What are you eating?"

"Gummy worms. I doubt you've ever had them. I would offer you one, but I don't think I'm allowed to open the door," I said flatly.

More silence. God, this was getting awkward.

"Why are you here?" he asked.

"That depends. What do you mean by here? Here could mean, on Earth, here could mean on this aircraft, or it could mean any number of things," I said, in the same flat voice.

"I mean, why did you come to talk to me again?"

"I was just wondering the same thing," I said rudely. "Hey, how did you know my name?" I asked, suddenly jumping up and turning to look at him.

"What?" he frowned, startled at the sudden subject shift.

"You said…" I trailed off. "You said, 'those are childish fears, Naomi.' How did you know my name? I never told you my first name, did I? And then in Germany earlier, you knew who Captain America was, too." I frowned. "Who told you who all of us are?"

He was silent a moment, looking at the ground, debating whether or not to tell me, I figured. "Agent Barton. He told me who Fury would most likely call in to try to regain the Tesseract."

"What do you mean, 'try'? You don't think we'll succeed?" I asked with raised eyebrows.

He smirked. "I know you won't."

"We'll see, won't we? You're not conquering the world from in there," I tapped a fingernail against the glass.

"We'll see, won't we?" he raised his eyebrows.

I looked at him suspiciously. "So what did you do to Barton, anyway?"

"I like to say that I expanded his mind"

"Expanded his mind, hmm? That's impressive, he's already pretty bigheaded. Expand his mind anymore, he won't be able to put a shirt over his head," I rolled my eyes.

Loki laughed, startling me. I looked at him curiously, not sure if I should join in or not. It was the first time I heard him laugh. And I wasn't sure it was a good thing that I had managed to make him laugh. Kind of on purpose, too. I had meant to be funny, and if he found it funny, it meant we had a similar sense of humor. The idea put me a little on edge, to realize you're similar to someone you don't want to be like.

"You and Barton aren't friends, then?" Loki asked.

"No, we're friends. We just have a kind of love-hate relationship. We _pretend_ to hate each other, but we're friends. What exactly did he tell you about me?" I asked as I turned the chair to face him again.

"Not very much, actually."

I waited a moment for him to elaborate. When he didn't, I said, "And?"

"Well, he told me you can turn into any kind of cat you want to. He told me you joined SHIELD when you were only fourteen. And," he paused, looking at me in an amused sort of way, "he said you were a little annoying."

"Yes, I am," I beamed. "And proud of it," I added.

"Don't you know anything about the advantages of being subtle?" he said patronizingly.

"Don't you know how much more fun it is to be loud and boisterous?" I asked in return. "And yes, I do know the advantages of being subtle. I can turn into cats, remember? You have to learn to be subtle to be a spy in cat form. Besides, who are you to talk about subtlety? You tell a giant crowd of Germans to _kneeeeel_," I drew out the last word, pretending to shout, and then continued, "while wearing a helmet with gigantic golden horns. I don't think I'll take advice from you on subtlety. Or fashion," I added with a devious smile.

He gave me a disapproving look and opened his mouth to say something, but I interrupted him. "All right, forget it, I apologize."

"Apology not accepted," he said immediately.

"Ah, well, it was worth a shot. You mind if I put on some music? I asked, taking out my iPod again.

"I don't care what you do," he said, looking haughty.

"Good, then you won't mind if I continue insulting you. Kidding," I added, seeing his irritated expression.

After deliberating on what music to play on my iPod for a few moments, I shrugged and hit shuffle all songs. As a song by Pink started to play, I picked up my drawing pad and flipped to the last drawing in the book. I had done it a little while earlier. It was a little cartoon of Thor and Captain America looking at a television with puzzled expressions while Natasha, Bruce, Tony, and I looked on. We were all drawn as chibis, looking somewhat like toddlers with small bodies, big heads, and exaggerated facial features.

The little Captain America frowned, peering at the television screen, while Thor examined the remote. In the background, Natasha was shaking her head, Bruce had a tiny puff of air coming out of his mouth as he sighed, Tony rolled his eyes, and I slapped my tiny cartoon hand to my forehead, exasperated.

I contemplated the drawing, looking for an error to correct. I made a few adjustments to Thor's cape, and then tweaked Bruce's hair a little bit here and there.

Satisfied, I flipped the page to a clean piece of paper. I glanced up at Loki for a brief moment and then set the pencil tip down on the paper and started to draw. I made sure the paper was tilted away so he couldn't see what I was drawing.

I didn't look up for a while, concentrating.

When I finally took a moment to stop drawing and stare at my half-finished work, Loki asked, "Finished?"

I looked up. "No, just taking a little break. Why?"

"Can I see your drawing?" he asked.

I looked hard at him for a moment. "Why, so you can make fun of it?"

"I just wanted to see what you were so intent on."

"I never show anyone a work in progress," I replied, shaking my head. "I can show you some of my other drawings, though, if you want."

"I'd like that." He said quietly. "Though I didn't really think you the type to sit and draw something."

"I've liked drawing for a long time. I stopped for a while, but I picked it up again two or three years ago," I stood up and walked over to the glass, flipping through the drawings absentmindedly. I found one a few pages back of Natasha Romanoff in a dress. I had snapped a picture of her with my phone just before we had left to do the mission we were both dressed up for, and had drawn the portrait of her later from the picture I had taken. The photograph was attached to the page with a paperclip.

The Natasha in the drawing and in the photograph looked slightly irritated, looking out at the person viewing the paper she was on.

Nervously, I held the drawing book up so Loki could see it. I watched his face as he inspected it, hoping he would say it was good. I vaguely wondered why I wanted him to approve, but the thought vanished as he met my eyes

"It's very good. Where did you learn to draw?" he asked.

I felt warm inside at his praise. "I kind of taught myself, but I copy the style from anime and manga. Japanese style," I added at his puzzled expression.

"Do you always draw things from photographs?"

"Sometimes, but not always," I responded, thumbing through, back to my caricature of Thor and Captain America. I held it up. "I mean, that's not from a photograph, but it's kind of inspired from real life."

He looked at the drawing, and smiled slightly. "Were you always this good at it?"

I shook my head with a broad grin. "It took me a long time to get it down," I explained, turning to the first pages of the thick sketchbook.

Several minutes passed as I showed him m progress through drawing, showing my attempts at different styles of drawing in several different pictures. My iPod still played music on the floor. I would occasionally break off from the subject of art and tell him about the song that was playing, the singer or the band who it was by, and what my interpretation of the lyrics were.

Songs and pages of my sketchbook flipped by quickly. Songs by Bruno mars, Kelly Clarkson, All-American Rejects, Fall Out Boy, Matchbox 20, and Pink played on as I showed drawings of fairies, princesses, furries (half animal, half human), and random funny things.

I suddenly fell silent as I turned the page in my sketchbook to a drawing with a photograph attached to it. I met Loki's eyes for a brief moment as he waited for me to start talking animatedly about what the picture was of, or what style I had been trying to reproduce. But I couldn't speak. My eyes fell back to the page. This drawing had been colored; one of the few that wasn't just a sketch made with a pencil. I sucked in a deep, shuddering breath, but still didn't say anything.

"What's wrong?" Loki asked.

I swallowed. "That's… my family." I held up the picture for him to see. "That's me," I tapped on the girl on the left side of the picture. "That's my sister," I tapped on the girl on the right, who I was sitting back to back with on the grass. "And then that's my mom and dad," I gestured to the man and woman, sitting on either side of the girls in the picture. I was much younger in the picture, and I wore a red dress with black polka dots. It had big, puffy sleeves and the dress went down to my knees. My sister wore a dress that was yellow and black stripes. It also had puffy sleeves and was down to her knees. Other than the matching themed clothes, we didn't look anything alike. She and my parents had dark brown hair and dark brown eyes. I looked out of place in the picture with my orange hair and amber eyes.

Loki glanced between me and the picture, as if I had asked him a question and he was trying to think of the right answer. After a moment, he asked, "Is your sister younger than you?"

"Yeah, but only by a few months," I replied with a small smile. "She would always get mad because people would think we were a few years apart. Little shrimp," I added fondly. "She was always small for her age. Worshipped the ground I walked on, though," I grinned.

"Then you got along well?" he asked. "Thor and I never did."

I smiled at the thought of Thor and Loki as little kids, arguing about God knows what. What a weird thought. "Yeah, we always did. Hard to disagree with someone who thinks your word is law. I swear, just about every word coming out of that kid's mouth was either asking my opinion or telling someone else what my opinion was. It was kind of sweet and kind of annoying at the same time."

"Still, you all look happy," Loki said, gesturing at the photo.

"Yeah, but we were trying so hard not to be. WE were determined to not be happy that day, because our parents made us dress up again. Every year on Easter, our parents would get us these themed costumes. Well, the year before this," I waved the drawing pad, "they got us costumes of a kitten and puppy. Well, after that, I decided we were getting too old to dress up like flowers or animals or anything silly like that. Of course, Willow agreed with me, so we told our parents, but they still got us these dresses. Mom and Dad said even though we were still dressed up, we would still look cute and have fun. Since I didn't get my way, we were determined not to enjoy ourselves, just to prove a point to our parents. Well, we had a blast anyway, but we were very reluctant," I sighed, gazing at the young, happy family I had drawn.

I glanced up at Loki again. He looked rather stunned, actually.

"What, am I not allowed to talk to you about my past?" I asked innocently.

"Most people wouldn't," he muttered.

"I'm not most people," I said firmly with a defiant expression.

"Can I see the picture again?" he asked.

I held it up once more.

"You don't look much like the rest of them, he commented.

I had hoped he would say that for a while now. I watched his face carefully as I said, "That's because I was adopted."

He froze for a moment. His eyes locked on mine.

I waited for him to say something.

"Thor put you up to this, didn't he?"

"Not at all," I said calmly. "Besides, what would be the point? I tell you I'm adopted, so what? It wouldn't change anything, would it? It's not like it would change your mind about _your_ adopted family would it?"

It was nearly silent for a moment, except for my iPod playing 'People Like Us' by Kelly Clarkson.

_This is not a funeral_

_It's a revolution after all_

_Your tears have turned to rage_

_Just wait_

_Everything will be okay_

_Even when it feels _

_Just like_

_It's going down_

_In flames_

_People like us,_

_We've got to stick together_

_Keep your head up_

_Nothing lasts forever_

Then the lyrics were interrupted.

"I suppose Thor told you everything, then?" Loki snarled.

"Yes," I whispered, almost scared by his sudden ferocity.

"Oh, of course! I'm sure he told the story to everyone he possibly could! How Odin was 'only doing the right thing,' and ruining my life in the process!" he was yelling now, but he wasn't looking at me; he was pacing back and forth, his head tilted up toward the ceiling, as if he could see Odin there now and was yelling at him.

I slowly stepped backward until I was standing behind the chair. I held onto the back of it, almost going to drag it backwards, and maybe leave. But I couldn't do that now. Not after I had brought this up. I would wait out his tantrum; wait out the anger and the rants and ravings. It's what no one had ever done for me, but what I had wanted someone to care enough to do.

He was still shouting. "He never told me, either. None of them did! They let me believe that Thor and I were equal, but we never were! Odin never would have given me the throne; he never would have given the throne to a _frost giant!_ No, my whole life was a lie! All those years, I thought Thor was just Odin's favorite son, but _no_, he as the _only _son. Odin never wanted me except as some kind of peace offering, a way to get a treaty! I was never anything more than that to him!" he was slowing down now. He had stopped pacing and his voice was getting quieter. "They never loved me. They never wanted me as their son. They never loved me," he repeated again, and then was silent.

I waited another moment. Then I took a few tentative steps forward.

As I drew slowly closer, he glared at me. "Leave me alone," he growled.

"No," I said quietly.

"I said leave me!" he shouted.

"Shout all you want!" I shouted back at him. "I'm not leaving just because you want me to."

He gave me the death glare, but I met his eyes defiantly, refusing to look away.

"Alright, look," I said after a few moments. "I'm going to cut all the useless banter that people usually try, alright? We both know it doesn't help if I say that I'm sorry for you. There's no point in me trying to give you advice, because you'll ignore it and I'm not even going to pretend I know how you feel, or I've been there, or I know what you're going through. We both know that's not true, either. I hate it when people would try that on me after what happened to me, and I have a feeling that you'd agree it doesn't help. But, look, I want to help, okay?" I paused here. I sighed, deciding I might as well finish; I had already started all this. "What can I do to help you?" I asked.

He looked away from my eyes, at the ground.

I waited. I was prepared to wait for a long time if I had to. I really did want to help him through this. Though why, I wasn't sure. I should be trying to exploit this weakness, not trying to help.

"Just…stay with me" he said quietly.

I stared at him. "What?" I whispered.

"Please, just don't leave now. I feel…" he trailed off. "I'm comfortable talking to you, and I don't know why. Just don't leave."

"Alright," I said simply. "I won't."

I stepped up to the glass and pressed my left palm against it. Hesitantly, Loki matched his right hand to mine against the glass. We both looked at our hands, separated only by the glass. We were both silent. I didn't want to be the first to move my hand away. I didn't want to be the one to break the silence. It felt like we had made some kind of unbreakable bond, some sacred pact of… what?

I looked up at him and studied his face for a moment.

"What?" he asked, his lips curving into a smile.

I reluctantly smiled back. "Now what?" I asked. "What are we now? Friends, or…" I trailed off, not sure what else could describe this.

He looked at me seriously. "Or what?"

I looked away from him. My hand fell away from the glass. "I don't know." I turned and went to sit in the chair again, the moment gone.

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**Note from LoquaciousQuibbler: Loki needs a freaking hug, don't he? I volunteer. **

**Ha, ha. Joking. He's all naomi's. **

**Next chapter we get to finally know what Naomi's story is, how she got her powers, and why she is afraid of the dark and thunder.**

**Tragic stuff, man. Tragic stuff. **

_Note from darkonesroses: ok um yeah, naoki is deffinately part of my armada of ships. Closely ranking up with Rumbelle. And they're not even canon. How sad._

**Smeg you, their real to me.**

_Yeah yeah I know. Please please comment. Hugs and loves!_


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Ask me Something

I still sat in the chair, a few feet from Loki's glass cell. I lifted my drawing pad and flipped back open to the drawing I had been working on. My pencil glided smoothly over the page, interrupted occasionally with erasing. "So what do you propose we talk about now?" I asked without looking up.

"I don't know. What do you want to talk about?"

I rolled my eyes and smiled. "yes, so helpful. How about you ask me something you want to know about me." I still didn't look up from the drawing, my pencil tracing shapes across the page.

He was quiet for a moment. "Have you ever been in love?"

My pencil stopped dead on the page. I slowly looked up at him with a curious expression. "I say you can ask me anything you want to know about me, and the first thing you ask is if I've ever been in love?"

Loki blushed, but didn't answer.

I held back a smile. "Alright, if you really want to know, no. not really, anyways. I joined SHIELD when I was fourteen, remember? I was trained with some other agents in the making, and there were a few guys I liked over the years, but I wouldn't really say I was in love with any of them. Heck, I never even had a kiss with any of them, to be honest," I answered.

He simply nodded slowly and didn't meet my eyes.

"So what about you?" I asked. "Have you ever been in lo-?"

"No, of course not," he snapped, cutting me off.

"Your defensive tone, immediate and utter denial, and the fact that you're blushing suggest otherwise," I smirked.

"I'm not being defensive, denying, or blushing," he defensively denied while blushing.

"Actually you're just making it worse," I giggled. "Come on, what's the story?"

"there is no story. I've never been in love," he repeated. "Just drop it already."

I looked at him doubtfully, but I didn't press it anymore. "alright. Whatever you say."

After a few moments of silence, I took out my iPod again. I had turned it off after 'People Like Us'. I hit shuffle again, and 'Overjoyed' by Matchbox 20 started playing.

_Feeling my hands start shaking_

_Hearing your voice I'm overjoyed._

_I'm sorry but I have no choice_

_You're only getting better _

"Ask me something else," I ordered him as I continued drawing.

"What happened to your family?" he asked immediately.

_Maybe you have your reasons _

_Maybe you're scared you're feeling down_

_Are you crying when there's no one around?_

I only paused briefly before asking in return, "What makes you think anything happened to them?"

"The way you reacted to seeing their picture. And the way you talked about them in past tense."

I sighed. "They died. A few months after that picture was taken. I did my drawing of that picture a few months after they died. After that, I stopped drawing for a few years."

"How old were you?"

"Fourteen."

"That was when you joined SHIELD," he said slowly. "What happened, exactly?"

"Long story," I said quietly. "You probably don't want to hear it."

"It's not fair if you know my story and I don't know yours."

_Well, maybe_

_Maybe if you hold me,_

_Baby,_

_Let me come over_

_I will tell you_

_Secrets _

_nobody knows_

_I cannot over _

_State it_

_I will be overjoyed. _

I shrugged. "Fair enough, I guess." I set the drawing pad down on the chair as I stood up. I paced back and forth for a moment. "It's such a long story, I'm not entirely sure where to start it," I admitted breathlessly, nervous with the thought of telling someone the whole story.

_And if you want,_

_We'll share this life._

_Anytime you need a friend,_

_I'm gonna be by your side._

_When nobody understands you,_

_Well, I do. _

"Why were you adopted?" he asked. "Maybe that's where it starts?"

I nodded. "Yeah, kind of. That's definitely part of the story." I twisted a strand of hair around my finger as I decided how to start. "Well, I was born to a single woman with no money, no job, and basically no life. I don't remember her that well, honestly. She was addicted to drugs or was an alcoholic or something, I don't remember what they said exactly. But I do remember she beat me. All she ever gave me was my name and a couple bruises and broken bones. I was a normal kid back then, you know. I didn't get the cat power thing till later. So when I was like four or five CPS took me away from her." I looked up at him and quickly explained that CPS was an agency that would find good homes for children who had abusive or negligent parents. "So then my new family adopted me. June and Robert Carson. And their daughter Willow. Willow had wanted a sister ever since she found out that she had been born a twin, but her twin sister had died when she was born. So her parents adopted me. I was only a few months older than her, and Willow basically loved me the moment she met me, so…" I trailed off, remembering my sister. "So I went From Naomi Robin Wright to Naomi Robin Carson. So I lived with them from when I was five to when I was fourteen. I loved them so much. It was almost as if I wasn't adopted. I mean, really, they loved me like Mom had actually given birth to me. I was _home_ with them." I swallowed hard, trying to get rid of the lump in my throat. "Anyways, it didn't last. We were, um, at a park when it happened. We would go hang out there every weekend. So we were just there talking about pointless stuff. I don't remember the exact specifics; it's all kind of foggy. But next thing I know, we couldn't breathe. We were scared, but we couldn't stay awake. When we woke up, we were in a basement. I don't know where, I don't know how long we were there. There was our family, and there were probably about seven other people locked down there. The others told us that we were in a man's house. The guy was insane, and he would take people out of the basement one by one, and they wouldn't come back. We didn't know what to expect, other than dying. We tried calling the police on our cell phones, all the time, but we couldn't get a signal out. No one could escape either. So every few days, someone would get taken out of the room, and then they'd disappear."

"What happened to them?" Loki asked.

"What do you think happened to them?" I demanded. "They died of course. The guy who kidnapped us was a mad scientist, and he was experimenting on people. If it went wrong, they died. Then he'd just get his next lab rat also known as _human being_ and try his next batch of experiments!" I said loudly, angrily. I was almost shouting. "Who knows how many people he killed?" My voice then dropped to a whisper. "He killed my family. First it was Dad. Then Mom, and then Willow. I couldn't stop him. I tried, too, but he took them all anyway." My throat felt so tight now I could barely breathe. I balled my hands into fists and closed my eyes, trying not to let the tears leak out. "Eventually he took me. There was only me, and then two other people left in that basement by that point. My little sister had been gone for a few days by that time. She was taken, then one other person, then me. Every time I made a move to escape, he would hit me. So hard, things almost went black for a few seconds. I quit struggling pretty quickly. He put a gas mask over my face, with some kind of drug to make me fall asleep, or incapacitate me. I was still awake when he put the needle in my arm, though."

My left hand squeezed my right arm once again. "It was like I was on fire, I swear. It was like the only thing that existed in the entire world was pain. And when the pain passed enough that I could think, I couldn't move. I literally couldn't open my eyes. I was awake, but I was trapped in my head. The pain was always there, on the inside of my right elbow. I couldn't do anything about it, though. I was trapped in my head, in the dark with nothing but my own thoughts, pain, and the sound of thunder." The tears had leaked out, finally, and were rolling down my cheeks. "Sometime while I was like that, SHIELD agents broke into the house. They had been tracking down the guy for a while. It's thanks to them that I'm still alive. If they hadn't come, I would've died while I was in the coma or whatever it was. The scientist got away, but they managed to save me and the other two people in the basement. But they took me to a medical center and kept me healthy while I was in that state. I was like that for about a month, I guess. Just trapped inside my head with thunder and dark, and pain. When I woke up, they told me what happened. I was the only one of the test subjects who had survived, but the other two people in the basement hadn't been tested on and were fine. I had been in a kind of coma for a month, and during that time, I had been changing forms. I had changed into several different kinds of cats while I had been unconscious. And I told them that I had been awake the whole time, in my head. I told them about the thunder and the pain. They said the pain was the serum or whatever it was being absorbed by my body. They told me the thunder was probably my own heartbeat. It had been constantly racing, and I was probably hearing that, not thunder." I smiled wryly. "I'm still afraid of thunder and the dark, though." I was slumped against the glass of the cell now, my eyes closed. Tears still leaked out of them, but much slower now. "I met nick Fury while I was in that hospital. He asked me to join SHIELD. I didn't really have much of a choice, though. I didn't have anywhere else to go, and no one was going to want to adopt a fourteen year old girl who could change into a cat. So I joined, they finished my education, and trained me. But my family's still gone." I fell silent and didn't say anything for a few moments. "I never really told anyone, but I still miss them so much," I whispered.

I finally opened my eyes and looked up. Loki was right there, just on the other side of the glass that I leaned against. His hand touched the glass next to my shoulder. He blushed as he noticed me noticing him, and he started to back away, but I gave him a half smile and leaned my head against the glass again, silently giving him permission to be close to me.

"Are you alright?" he asked in a hushed voice.

"Yeah," I murmured back. And honestly, I was. I felt comforted just by him being there, near me. I knew I shouldn't, but at the moment, I didn't care.

"I probably shouldn't have told you all that," I said quietly. "What with you being so evil and manipulative. You're probably going to use it against me in some way later on."

"I don't think I will," he said. "I like you too much to hurt you like that."

It was then that I noticed what song was playing. It was 'Clarity.'

_You are the piece of me _

_I wish I didn't need_

_Chasing relentlessly _

_Still find that I don't know why_

_If our love is tragedy,_

_Why are you my remedy?_

_If our love's insanity,_

_Why are you my clarity? _

My thoughts exactly as I looked at Loki

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**Note from LoquaciousQuibbler" ****_D'aww…. _****That's all I have to add. **

_Note from darkonesroses: yeah ok, I ship them hard. Seriously though LQ? You don't have anything to say?_

**Nope. **

_Nothing about Naomi's background or...?_

**Nope. I'll take questions form the readers, but no.**

…_.You're so weird...Please comment! Hugs and loves!_


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

One Betrayal Away

I sat in my chair, still in front of Loki's cell. We had sat in a tense silence for a few minutes now, not sure how to proceed with our conversation after I had told him my story.

I picked up my iPod off the floor, where it still played music quietly, and launched an app. It was a game called Dragon's choice: just a little multiple choice game that could pass the time when you were bored. I rarely played it, and hadn't gotten very far. I sat in silence for a few more minutes, playing the game, making choices for my dragon character.

"What are you doing?" Loki asked.

"Playing a game," I responded absentmindedly.

"On that?"

I glanced up at him. He was looking skeptically at the iPod Touch in my hand. I smiled. "It's probably a weird concept, but yeah, you can do all kinds of things with this." I held up the iPod. "Including playing games, communicating with other people who have them, playing music, yeah, tons of cool stuff."

"I don't see how any game on something that small that doesn't even involve moving around would be fun."

"You'd be surprised at what we silly mortals find fun," I smirked, thinking of watching television, video games, and phone and iPod apps. "I'm playing a game where you make decisions that change the fate of your character. It's pretty fun."

Loki still looked rather unimpressed.

I sighed. "Here, I'll start a new game and we can both play." I dragged my chair over so the back leaned against the glass, and then sat down in it again. With a series of taps on the screen, I deleted my current game and started a new one. "Okay, so the game is called Dragon's Choice. You pretend you're a dragon, right? So the game will give you a scenario, and choices of what you can do. Your choices affect what happens next to you. Making different choices gives you points in your wealth, your brutality, your honor, that kind of stuff."

"And the object of the game?" Loki asked in a voice that was badly masking interest.

"To get high points in all of the areas you can. You know, to have a balance of brutality and honor, and to keep people afraid of you so you're still controlling the kingdom," I explained. "I love dragons. Or, rather, the idea of them. I'm not sure I'd like to meet a dragon in real life."

"No, you probably wouldn't. They're very brutal creatures, with no remorse. I like them, personally," Loki said conversationally.

I laughed. "Yeah, there are all kinds of different ideas about dragons in this world. There are books and movies where they're evil, like in Reign of fire, the movie, but then there are the versions where they're really good, or smart, or things like that, like in the Inheritance book series by Christopher Paolini. But usually people just think of them as these creatures that horde treasure or kidnap princesses and breathe fire, wreaking havoc on medieval villages and that sort of thing," I trailed off, smiling dreamily at the opportunity to rant on and on about nerdy stuff like this. "Anyway, Dragon's Choice," I said briskly.

I read the scenarios and the choices you could make out loud for Loki to hear, and then allowed him to choose what move to make. Well, at least I let him choose for the first few questions. After that, I started saying what I would choose, and then debating with him what to do. Most of the time, it wasn't much of a debate, though. I soon realized we both made the same choices in a majority of the situations the game gave you.

When given the choice to kill your enemy or let them live, we both elected to kill. When given the choice of killing our enemies quickly and mercifully or make it slow and painful, we both said to kill slowly and painfully, both of us wearing mischievous grins.

During the first few questions, I stated that "you" could make this or that choice, but soon, I was saying "we" should do that over this.

Together, we schemed to take over the medieval kingdom, with goblins as our minions. WE both usually preferred subtlety with our enemies. WE would lure our opponents to us when we could, and then strike.

As our dragon character killed his brother slowly and painfully, I glumly read out loud, "And our honor points just dropped again. Infamy increased, and brutality increased."

"How is it that you ended up on the good side?" Loki sighed.

I glanced up at him, grinning. "I don't know. Just worked out that way, I guess. Why do you ask?"

"Because you would make a wonderful villain, that's why," Loki smiled, as if he were giving me a compliment.

I looked down at the iPod screen. "Maybe, maybe not. I think I prefer this side of the cell," I tapped on the glass cell wall with my knuckles. "I think the difference is that this is a game. I can choose whatever I want to without it having any real repercussions that can't be erased later. My conscience stops me in real life. I know you probably don't know what that is," I added with raised eyebrows, looking at him pointedly. "You know, that thing that tells you what's wrong and what's right inside your head. You probably don't have one, huh? I, on the other hand, do. I usually try to do what's right."

"That's good, I suppose," Loki said with a slight smile.

"Why's that?" I asked, looking up with a frown.

"Because that means it would just take a good push to make you join the brutal killers."

I looked at him carefully, not sure if he was joking or being serious. "What exactly do you mean?"

He smirked. "If all that's stopping you from being like me is your conscience, then that means if you thought you were doing the right thing, your conscience would be clear. You could kill those you thought deserved it, and not feel guilty. Following your conscience is a funny thing that way, Naomi. You simply have to _believe _you're doing the right thing. Your conscience isn't infallible. It's biased by your emotions and beliefs. And by what happens to you."

"And you think it would take one good push to make me switch sides?" I asked critically. "What exactly do you mean by a push?"

"Anything powerful enough to make a big impact on your emotions or beliefs. Something that would cloud your judgment, obviously. Grief, love, anger," he listed off quickly. "A need for vengeance. If you were betrayed and wanted vengeance, I think that would be enough for you to switch sides."

I looked at him skeptically, not sure I believed him.

"Betrayal is something that can cloud your inner thinking very much. I think you're probably one good betrayal away from being on my side," Loki said smoothly, smirking knowingly.

I frowned, looking at him thoughtfully. "One betrayal away…" I repeated. "One betrayal away from being on 'your side,'" I repeated again, the sides of my mouth twitching a little. "Why, Loki, I think you're accidentally telling me you _want _me to be on your side."

The smug, knowing smirk fell away from his face. His mask of distant superior arrogance and self-satisfied smugness was gone. It was replaced by an anxious expression, full of self-loathing. His hands clenched into fists at his side, and his gaze went to the floor as he blushed slightly, avoiding my eyes.

I smiled to myself, feeling a perverse sense of satisfaction at his embarrassed reaction to my suggestion. But I wasn't sure exactly what I was so satisfied about. Was it that I had made him feel embarrassed? Or was it the words that had caused the reaction that pleased me? I clenched my hands tightly around my iPod to stop them from trembling so much as I gazed at him, still smiling smugly.

"Quit looking at me like that," Loki muttered, looking at me resentfully.

"Looking at you like what?" I asked, trying to suppress my satisfied smile.

"Like I just told you something amusing, he snapped.

"Who says you didn't?" I raised my eyebrows.

"I didn't tell you anything of the sort."

I was silent for a moment, looking at his still embarrassed, somewhat irritated face. "Let me tell you a little something I once heard. Ninety percent of human communication is nonverbal. So that means _ninety percent _of what you're saying isn't coming out of your mouth."

He was giving me a look. It was pained, angry, troubled, and unsure. I had finally backed him into a corner, and he hated it. There wasn't anything he could say. I had penetrated his defenses, and now he was vulnerable. How cute.

For some reason I was immensely enjoying being able to toy with him like this. His glare, which clearly stated 'I hate you so much for putting me in this situation' made it hard not to grin. I could see the wheels in his head turning as he tried desperately to think of a way to turn the conversation back in his favor. I had somehow taken control. The balance of power had been tipped in my favor. "It sucks to not be in control, doesn't it?" I asked casually. "I just noticed, that's another way we're kind of similar. Every conversation we have is a battle for power over the other person. WE both are always trying to be in control. WE hate it when we don't know what to say."

Loki gritted his teeth, still giving me that pained, angry, troubled look. "What the hell am I supposed to say to you, Naomi? What the hell do you want me to say to you?"

My smile vanished as I looked him in the eyes. I bit my lip, not sure exactly how to answer. His eyes weren't angry or embarrassed or even unsure anymore. His gaze was intense, and pleading, as if begging for me to say something. It almost scared me. I looked away from him, instead looking at my hands in my lap. My left hand still gripped my iPod, the game of dragon's Choice forgotten. My right hand was balled into a tight fist, my fingernails digging into my palm, knuckles white. Both were trembling slightly. "I don't know," I finally answered him in a hushed voice, feeling like a chastised child.

I heard Loki let out a deep sigh, as if he had been holding his breath. Then I heard his footsteps as he retreated to the other side of the small cell.

Neither of us spoke for a long moment. I felt… odd. Confused, even. What, exactly, had just happened between us? One second, I had had him in the palm of my hand, enjoying making him uncomfortable. I stopped to examine those emotions. I had been happy to have that small bit of power over him. Over anyone, really. I had been manipulative in that moment. And power-hungry. Maybe I was closer to being a villain than I had thought. One minute I had been teasing him… and the next…. All the humor was gone. He had asked the question of what I had wanted him to say. And I didn't know. What did he want me to want him to say? He had been giving me that pleading look. He had wanted me to say something. But what? Heck, what had I wanted him to say to my teasing about him wanting me to be on his side? What exactly had I been trying to gain?

The simple solution to my quandary immediately came to me. In fact, the thought had been floating around me all night, I had simply been telling myself it wasn't true. I wanted him to like me. I wanted him to like me because, well, I liked him. This was what I had been denying to myself all night. I couldn't like him. Not the way I did now.

Yet with a mixture of regret, doom, and confusion, I realized I liked him far more than I was willing to admit to anyone. I wouldn't even admit it to myself. But I did like him far more than I should.

One betrayal away, he had said. He said he thought a need for vengeance would cause me to join the dark side. He said that if it was just my conscience stopping me from being like him, a powerful emotion could cloud inner judgment. Grief, love, anger, or a need for vengeance, he had said. Love.

For a moment, the thought scared me. Then, curious, I wondered, 'Couldn't that work both ways, though?' Cautiously, I looked up at Loki. He was sitting with his head bowed, his face in his hands. For a second, I thought he was crying. "Loki?" I asked quietly.

When he looked up, though, he wasn't crying. He was frowning slightly, but looked otherwise emotionless.

I contemplated just saying 'never mind, forget it' and going back to silence. But I was sincerely curious as to how he would answer my question. "You know how you said it takes a big emotion to impact your life, and then that can cause you to switch sides?"

Loki nodded, still frowning slightly.

"Well, I was thinking…" I twisted my hands together, somewhat nervous. "If you think all it would take is, you know, one good push to make someone switch sides, then wouldn't that mean…" I trailed off once more before finishing breathlessly, "Wouldn't that mean it would just take a 'push' to make _you _switch sides, too?"

Loki didn't answer for a moment, frowning at me. Then a humorless smile twisted his lips. "No, it doesn't mean that."

I looked at him hard. "Why not? You're so determined to think that I could switch sides so easily, so why not—?"

"I wouldn't switch sides as easily as you because we don't have the same drive. I told you before, the reason you would easily switch sides is because you follow your conscience. As you were so quick to point out earlier, I don't have a conscience. Therefore, my judgment can't be clouded by the same things that yours can," Loki explained patiently. "What drives me is vengeance. Like we said earlier, a need for vengeance is a powerful thing. With no conscience, it's a dangerous thing. Nothing will stand in the way of me getting vengeance."

I looked at him sadly. "Can betrayal and vengeance really take over your life like that?"

Loki shrugged wearily. "I suppose so. Have you really never wanted revenge on someone?"

I shrugged indifferently, though I cringed inwardly and tried to ignore the sour taste in my mouth that had come at the idea of wanting revenge.

Loki frowned at me curiously. "You look as though there's more to it than a simple shrug. You look somewhat troubled."

I scratched my head and shrugged again, purposefully shaking a few strands of hair into my face so he couldn't see the pained expression on it.

"Come now, Naomi, what's the story?" he asked in a mockingly sweet tone.

I glared at him for a moment. "None of your business, that's what."

Loki snorted with laughter. "After everything we've told each other tonight, _now _you're bringing up whether it's my business or not?"

"Smeg you," I muttered, feeling cornered and small and vulnerable.

Loki gave me a calculating look. "Well, then, if you're not going to tell me, perhaps I can guess."

I raised my eyebrows at him but didn't say anything.

"Could it be that you wanted revenge on your birth mother for ruining the first five years of your life?"

I shook my head sullenly, not daring to speak.

Loki frowned slightly. "The only others I can imagine you would want revenge on, from what you've already told me of your life, would be either the man who experimented on you and killed your family, or the two others who survived in the basement and weren't experimented on."

"I've got to hand it to you, you were paying attention when I told you my story," I said drily. "You remembered how long I was with my birth mother before being taken away from her, and you remembered the number of people who survived the mad scientist's kidnapping."

"Yes, yes," Loki said impatiently. "Now let's get to the part where you tell me what it is with you and your fear of the idea of revenge taking over someone's life."

I gave him a dirty look. "You're really determined to get this out of me, aren't you?"

He nodded, smiling slightly.

"Why, exactly? Just to prove that I would be a good villain?"

He shook his head, still smiling.

"Then why?" I asked suspiciously.

Loki gave me a patronizing smile. "I've decided I don't need to explain every decision I make and every reason I do things. Now, continue with the story."

I sighed and rolled my eyes. "Whatever. Since you're not going to drop this, I'll tell you. When I woke up from the coma with my powers, they told me that my family had died getting experimented on by that guy. Honestly, I don't even remember his name. I didn't care, so it didn't actually stick in my mind. I told you before that nick Fury came and met me in the hospital after I woke up, after I learned what happened to everyone else. Well, besides the other two who hadn't gotten experimented on… anyways. The guy had left me without any family. The only choice left for me was to join SHIELD or try to make it on my own. I was honestly going to try to make it on my own, but Fury said if I joined SHIELD, I'd be able to help kill my family's murderer. I'm not going to deny it; I was dying to get revenge on the guy. I wanted to cause him a new kind of excruciating, painful torture the likes of which he'd never felt before. I joined SHIELD because it was going to give me the chance to do that." I was silent a moment, brooding over my memories.

"Did you kill him?" Loki prompted in a gentle voice.

I clenched my jaw. "No."

"Why not?" Loki asked in surprise. "Don't tell me you changed your mind at the last moment, deciding you couldn't take a life. Don't tell me you decided you were too noble for that, or that you swore to never kill. I didn't take you for that kind of dramatic hero."

"No," I snarled, my hands curling into fists. "I would've done it. I didn't get the chance." I stood up and kicked the glass of Loki's cell as hard as I could. "Someone else got to him before SHIELD did!" I shouted in an anguished voice. "I didn't get the opportunity to give the guy what he deserved, he was just gone, and I couldn't get my closure I was going to get by getting revenge!" I kicked the glass again, less forcefully this time. My foot was sore after the first kick, but I still had more anger to get out. "I was going to make sure he understood the pain he had caused me, and that he regretted what he'd done. I was going to make sure he didn't have anything in his world but pain when he died! I was going to make him beg me for death." I kicked the glass once more, feebly and without much conviction this time. "Instead he just got a sniper rifle bullet through his skull. It was over in a second. He didn't even know what had happened before it was over." And in a growl, I enunciated every word very clearly. "_I didn't get to avenge my family._" I took a deep, shaky breath and pulled myself together before looking up at Loki once again.

He nodded grimly, looking grave, as if he could possibly understand what it was like.

I sighed. "So my thing with revenge is that I don't get it. I didn't know if it would have actually helped me get closure, or if it would have just haunted me for the rest of my life. I just wish I could've been given the choice to actually kill him or not. I think I would've done it."

Loki's mouth curled up at the corners. "And yet you say you wouldn't possibly be a villain."

I gave him a death glare, telling him it was not appropriate to say that at this time.

Immediately, he stopped smiling. "Alright, alright. I'm sorry you didn't get your revenge."

I gave him a disgusted look and sank into my chair once again. "I'm not sorry."

"I thought you said you wanted closure, and to cause him pain, and revenge."

"I did. I do. It's just that little thought at the back of my mind that's afraid it wouldn't be enough. Say I did kill him. Say I caused him every possible pain in the world, made him regret the day he was born, and the day he kidnapped my family, and the days he killed them. Say I got my revenge on him. And then say I _didn't _get what I wanted. Say I never felt like I had avenged them, and that killing the scientist who experimented on them wasn't good enough? What would I have done then?" I pushed my hair out of my face. "I'll tell you what would happen. If I wasn't satisfied with killing the scientist, I would blame someone else. Who else? I don't know. Maybe I would take my need for vengeance out on the other two survivors because they survived and my family didn't. It wouldn't be their fault, but hey, my judgment would be impaired by those pesky emotions. I might say they deserved to die, because it should have been them rather than my family. If I still wasn't satisfied, I might track down my birth mother. Blame her, she gave birth to me, she shouldn't have let me go through so much pain in life. Take revenge on her for allowing what happened to me. If that wasn't enough, then what? I might simply decide to blame the world. Take my anger and punish the world. Whoever is in it.." I looked up at Loki once more. "_That's _my fear of revenge. A fear of wanting it and never satisfying the need for it. And punishing innocent people who have nothing to do with it, because I hadn't gotten revenge. So on one hand, I wish I could've tried to get revenge, but on the other, I'm glad I wasn't given the chance to become a slave to vengeance." I then stood up. "I'll be back." I started to leave. I needed a minute to get my thoughts organized. I was thinking too much about all the negative stuff in the past. I needed a minute alone.

"You're leaving?" Loki asked in a nearly-panicked voice.

"I'll be back," I repeated. "I'm just… going to get some water." And some control over my emotions, I added to myself. Too many emotions. Too many confusing thoughts were in my head right now. Like the fact that I was so comfortable sharing all this with Loki… and then the memories themselves. I needed a break.

And once I got ahold of myself, I would come back and talk to him more. Because as much as I hated to admit it, I really wanted to keep talking to him. How weird.

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**Note from LoquaciousQuibbler: Kudos to Dragon's Choice, as well as to ****_Reign of Fire _****and the ****_Inheritance_**** cycle by Christopher Paolini… and dragons in general. :) I used a quote from the Will Smith movie, Hitch, as well. The whole "90% of what you're saying isn't coming out of your mouth" is not mine. This chapter was more of a study of human nature and the idea of following your conscience than fan fiction material, but I don't care. This chapter is like a glimpse into the way my mind works. Kinda weird, huh? In any case, I hope you liked it.**

**Oh, yes, and I thought you may want to know: the next chapter is going to be from Loki's point of view. Poor guy. **

**Poor me. I have to write from this guy's point of view. I hope I can pull it off well. **

**Edit: Since writing the above, something of the most serious nature has occurred. (Sorry that was a quote from Pride and Prejudice) I am going to be going to summer camp for about 2 months. The next couple chapters are unfinished so after this chapter I don't have anything to post. It will be some time until I can post the next part of Battle of Wits. But don't despair, it shall be finished! ….sometime. (Please no death threats to make me finish it) **

_Note from darkonesroses: yup, still shipping Naoki. And yes, my sister is going to her summer camp, and I also am going to my own camp for 3 weeks so I won't be posting my stuff either. Please no death threats, even if they are in good jest. Please comment, hugs and loves!_


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

**Pre-Chapter Note from LoquaciousQuibblerr: Normally I put my author's note at the end of the chapter, but I would like to put an extra one before I begin, since it's been so long since I posted. Just got back from summer camp three days ago. Really fun stuff, cried on the last day saying goodbye to everyone… *sigh***

**Got a new laptop, so I may now continue writing and posting stuff. **

**Also, while I was at summer camp, a fellow camper informed me that there is a DC Comic character named the Huntress. That is total news to me. I thought I made up the name all by my lonesome, but apparently not… So if anyone thought I was copying the DC Comic character Huntress, it is a total coincidence. Really weird stuff. But uh…. Hmm… School starts on August 5, so posting will get slow again, probably, but for the next week, I'll try to pump out as much material as I can. The following chapter is from Loki's point of view, and I sincerely hope it's not horrible. I'm not quite sure I can pull off writing from his point of view, but I gave it my best shot. Please enjoy. **

Malice and Compassion

Loki's Point of View

My mind is a living hell on the best of days. When I'm confused or indecisive, it only gets worse. And right now, I was feeling more confused and indecisive than I could ever remember being before.

It was because of Naomi Carson. Since I had first locked eyes with her, I hadn't been able to shake her from my mind. All I could think about was her. Specifically, her and me. I wasn't sure how to feel about it. The confusion and indecisiveness was driving me mad. Madder than usual, anyways.

Inside the living hell of my mind, a war was being waged between two parts of my consciousness. One told me to push Naomi away, hurt her, manipulate her, and break her. It was the malicious part of me; the most dominant part of me, most of the time. It was the part I would usually listen to. However, when it came to Naomi, the normally-dormant part of my mind stirred and was telling me not to hurt Naomi. The tiny bit of compassion within me demanded that I…

Well, I wasn't even entirely sure what the other part of my mind wanted me to do. But every time I said something that made Naomi frown, purse her lips, or (god forbid) cry, that compassionate part of my mind berated me. Seeing Naomi cry made me want to kick myself.

_You idiot! Don't hurt her! Make it better! Make Naomi smile, make her happy, _my compassion demanded every time I made a wrong move.

But every time I made Naomi smile, my malice would interrupt the warm glow in my heart with anger. _You shouldn't want to make her smile, you fool! The only feelings you should have for Naomi Carson are disdain, resentment, and hate. You should want to hurt her. Hurting her will hurt the rest of them. Hurting the rest of them makes you stronger. _

But then Compassion would protest indignantly. _Hurting Naomi only makes you feel worse, and guilty. Naomi makes you stronger, and hurting her hurts you. _

_ Sentiment and attachment hurt you, _Malice would argue. _Ignoring Naomi and focusing on what must be done is what will help. _

On and on the argument inside my head would go, not allowing me to decide how I was supposed to act around Naomi. And all the while I had to try to focus and not act like a complete dunce in front of her. And I was having an awfully hard time of it.

Both Malice and compassion were hard to ignore. Malice kept reminding me of the plan: taking over the earth, hurting Thor and Odin, and gaining my birthright as a king. This was something I had wanted for a long time, and I couldn't ignore it very easily.

But neither could I ignore the ache deep in my chest when Naomi would give me a mischievous little smile. She made me happy in a way I hadn't known was possible. She made me… almost euphoric. That is, when she wasn't crying. When Naomi had cried, Compassion had made me want to make it better. I wanted to tell her I was sorry for asking her to tell me her past, I wanted to beg her forgiveness, I wanted to make her pain go away, I wanted to… I wanted to…

I now closed my eyes and frowned, trying to remember exactly what I would have liked to have done when Naomi cried.

I wanted to wipe away the tears from her cheeks, pull her into a tight embrace, and then hold her close to me until she stopped crying. And maybe even then I wouldn't let her go.

I sighed, frowning deeper. At the thought of making Naomi feel better, I felt a warm glow in my heart.

Naomi. With her ever-amused amber eyes, mischievous smirk, sarcastic remarks, and unique balance of dark humor and determination to be good…

Malice seized me again, dragging me away from Compassion and the idea of making Naomi happy. _Don't be a dunce, _Malice told me menacingly. _Naomi Carson is only going to make things difficult if you want to be close to her. You can't have your stupid affection for her anymore! The only thing you can do is push her away and hurt her! _

But again Compassion crept in. _Naomi isn't someone you can just push away. She cares enough about you that she won't leave you. And face it: you don't want her to leave you. You want to make Naomi love you as much as you love her. Now quit being a fool and hurting her! _

I bit the inside of my lip, unsure as ever. I paused.

Love? Had I really just thought that word?

Compassion had informed me that I wanted to make Naomi love me as much as I loved her. My breath hitched in my throat at the thought. Impossible. Love wasn't in my nature. Especially not for a silly mortal woman. Malice told me so. But the way Compassion made me want to protect her from ever being hurt, the way I felt my heart warm when she smiled, and the way I wanted to smile back at her told me otherwise.

Was it possible that I was in love with Naomi Carson?

_No, _Malice snapped immediately. _Love isn't in your nature. The only love you have is for power and the pain of others. You feel this way about Naomi because… because she's distracting you from what's important. She's just a distraction. She's not important, _Malice told me forcefully, but it was having a hard time thinking of an explanation. Of an excuse.

I wasn't sure I was convinced. Compassion certainly wasn't.

_Of course you love her, _Compassion said derisively. _You're absolutely smitten with her, you fool._ _You're just too stupid to realize it without being told outright. Why else do you think you so badly want her to stay? Why else do you think you wish the glass of the cell wasn't separating you from her? What else do you think that euphoric feeling in your heart is? It certainly isn't hate, you idiot, _Compassion said scathingly.

I swallowed. This couldn't be happening. Not here and not now. Not ever.

_Don't be a fool. It can't be real. And if it is, she can't feel the same, _malice spat. _Push her away so she won't befuddle your thoughts anymore. _

_ Don't be stupid, _Compassion said wickedly. _If you push her away, she'll only befuddle your thoughts more. Make her happy, you dunce. Enough making her cry, enough causing pain. _

_ There's never enough causing pain! _Malice growled. _It's in your nature to cause pain. It's only natural to do the same to Naomi Carson. _

_ You only think that because it's what you do to everyone else, _Compassion hissed. _Listen to me for once. You can't hurt Naomi. _

_ Yes, you can, _Malice declared.

_Well, yes, technically, you can, _Compassion said silkily. _But you don't really want to, do you? _

With a sigh, I pressed the heels of my palms to my eyes and frowned. How the hell should I know what I wanted anymore? My mind was a complete muddle. Everything concerning Naomi Carson was unclear to me.

"Hey…"

My heart skipped a beat at the sound of her voice.

"Are you okay?" Naomi asked tentatively.

_Pull yourself together, _Malice and compassion ordered in unison.

I slowly looked up to see that Naomi had returned, a water bottle in her hand. "I… didn't hear you coming," I said, clearing my throat and straightening up.

Naomi shrugged. "I've been here for maybe half of a minute. She gave me a searching look. "Really, are you okay? You look kind of… stressed, I guess," she said, sitting in her chair and opening the bottle of water.

I nodded feebly. "I'm fine," I muttered.

Naomi looked unconvinced.

I felt a flicker of gladness in my heart at the sweet concern on her face.

_I told you she cares too much to leave you, _compassion said haughtily.

I felt the faintest of smiles as I looked at Naomi's anxious expression. Anxiety for me.

"I'm fine," I repeated quietly.

Naomi looked at me critically. I quickly looked away. I wasn't sure if I liked the way my heart started racing when our eyes locked.

Naomi sighed. "I don't believe you, but I guess I'll drop it, then. So…?" she trailed off, obviously leaving it up to me to start a new conversation.

Malice and compassion started grappling for a hold on me again.

_Tell her to leave, or say something that will make her want to leave! _Malice ordered.

_Start a civilized conversation, you dolt! _Compassion commanded.

I clenched my fists at my side. What the hell was I supposed to do?

I looked at Naomi. She looked back at me expectantly. What was I supposed to do? Push her away, or make her happy?

Naomi frowned and pursed her lips. "I don't know what's up with you, but you're distracted by something."

_Idiot! _Malice and compassion said in unison. _Say something! _

"I'm not distracted, you're just irritatingly impatient," I snapped, agitated by my inability to think straight around her.

Naomi's expression hardened. "Excuse me for not wanting to sit in awkward silence."

_You foolish, idiotic, oafish, moronic dolt! _Compassion berated me. _Fix it! Apologize, beg her forgiveness; make her smile again; make her happy! Don't say anything else stupid! _

Malice, however, grinned, urging me to continue. _Excellent, just keep this up. Don't apologize. Maybe insult her more. _

I glanced at Naomi, conflicted. I didn't follow Malice's orders or Compassion's orders. Instead, I was silent, unsure and hating it.

"Maybe I should just go," Naomi muttered.

I felt a flash of panic at her words, and my eyes flicked up to hers quickly.

She was giving me a bitter look, with something else mixed in… regret? Sorrow? Whatever it was, it made my heart ache and it made me want to scream in frustration at myself.

She stood and brushed off her pants, though there wasn't anything on them. She was just avoiding eye contact.

_Don't leave, don't leave, don't leave, _Compassion begged her. Then it turned on me. _Stop her, you moron! Do something; fix it! _

_ It's already been fixed, _Malice said, feeling triumphant. _She's finally leaving you alone. Let her leave. _

Naomi turned, and glanced over her shoulder once again at me. In her eyes were regret, and a bitter mixture of sadness and anger.

I realized Compassion was right. I absolutely loathed the idea of her leaving. Especially with the dark look in her eyes. I couldn't stand it. I would have given anything at that moment to make the bitter look go away and be replaced by her mischievous smirk. Compassion was right. Seeing her happy made me happier. I wanted her to smile at me… the little smile that played across her lips when she answered a riddle correctly, or explained an old drawing of hers, or talked about dragons. The hurt expression on her face now was like a dagger in my heart.

Naomi sighed and turned to go.

Compassion forced the words out of my mouth before I could stop them. "Naomi, wait," I said quietly, fighting hard to keep a pleading tone out of my voice.

She paused. "What now?" she asked resentfully.

Malice berated me for speaking at all, _Stupid, stupid, stupid! Don't you dare continue! Don't you dare tell her to stay! _

Compassion smirked smugly. _Go ahead and tell her. _

I hesitated.

_Do it, _Compassion ordered.

_ Don't do it! _Malice shrieked.

Naomi still waited. "What, Loki?" she asked impatiently.

I swallowed. "Don't leave—" I paused, considering whether or not I should say 'don't leave me.' "Just don't leave," I muttered.

Naomi was silent. She didn't turn around to face me again. But she didn't leave, either.

I clenched my fists harder, digging my fingernails into my palms as I fought against Malice so I could say my next word through gritted teeth. "Please," I breathed.

Naomi scuffed one of her boots against the ground absentmindedly, still not turning to face me. She hung her head, looking at the ground. "And why would I stay?" She tapped the toe of her boot on the ground. "Are you going to give me a good reason, or am I just supposed to follow your orders?" she asked in a half-heartedly tough voice.

I smiled faintly. "I don't need to give you a good reason to stay. You've already got one."

She glanced up at me in surprise. "What do you mean?"

I smiled to myself. "If you wanted to leave, you would've done it already. You have your own reason for staying, don't you?"

Both Malice and Compassion were surprised by my words.

Naomi looked at me thoughtfully. She nodded slowly. "Maybe I do have a reason." She smirked a little bit. "You think you've got me all figured out, don't you?"

I didn't answer, but gave her a small, knowing smile as I felt the warm glow in my heart again.

Naomi smirked more broadly. "Luckily I can counter it. That's the third time you've asked me to stay, Loki. I think we've both got reasons for wanting me to be here." She returned my knowing smile.

I felt my face get hot and I glanced away. "You only stayed because you wanted to. You didn't stay simply because I asked," I muttered embarrassedly.

Naomi chuckled, a little self-consciously. "I've got an idea. We stop trying to figure out the reason I'm here, and we just get back to talking."

I nodded. "Agreed."

"Oh, yeah, and by the way, you're blushing," Naomi added in a half- teasing, half-affectionate voice.

"I am not," I answered immediately.

"Are, too," Naomi said quietly.

"Am not," I repeated, now fighting back a smile.

"Are, too," Naomi repeated, half-laughing.

"You're acting like a child," I informed her looking up to give her a mischievous grin.

Now Naomi blushed. "Am not."

"Are, too," I said mockingly.

Naomi stuck her tongue out at me. "Maybe I am. So what? You can't stop me from acting like a child if I want to. So neener-neener," she finished haughtily.

I smirked. "I wouldn't want to stop you from acting like a child even if I could. It's rather endearing, in an odd way."

Naomi blushed crimson, and I felt that funny, happy feeling in my heart again.

"Oh, yes, and by the way, you're blushing," I said mockingly.

"Smeg you," she muttered, though she was grinning. She didn't meet my eyes, studying her combat boots as if there was something worth looking at on them. After a moment, she glanced up at me. She looked away quickly when her eyes met mine. Then she carefully sat down in her plastic chair again. "I give. I'll stay, Loki."

I smiled, unable to help it. Both Malice and Compassion were half-satisfied. Naomi was staying, but I had also managed to embarrass her into the fidgety, self-conscious state she was in now.

She seemed to be avoiding my gaze, appearing overly self-conscious. Without looking at me, she bent down to pick up the drawing pad that lay face down on the floor. Her face turned slightly pink as she fumbled with it for a moment, trying to find her page that she was on. She turned a deeper shade of magenta as she dropped her pencil.

I watched her curiously, wondering what had her so flustered.

_Stupid mortal girl, _Malice dismissed impetuously. _Who cares what has her flustered. Make fun of her for her distractedness and self-consciousness. You could so easily use this awkwardness in her mood to your advantage. _

Compassion resented that idea, however. _No manipulating, hurting, or taking advantage of her. That's not what you're supposed to do to loved ones. _

_ You're not in love with her! Malice protested. _

_ Ignore Malice, _Compassion whispered conspiratorially to me. _And the reason she's so awkward now is because she's in love with you back, you dunce. Now all that's left for the two of you is to tell each other. _

_ And then what? _Malice challenged. _Then you're supposed to live your, as the humans call it, happily ever after? It's impossible. She's mortal. You're a god. She's a SHIELD agent. You're working against SHIELD. She calls you a villain and claims what she does is good. Nothing can ever happen between the two of you but rivalry, hatred, anger, fighting, and betrayal. _

Compassion grinned at this statement. _In order for betrayal, there has to be trust to begin with. Trust entails friendship, at the very least. Love, to a greater degree. _

I studied Naomi as she silently drew on her sketchpad. There was at the very least a friendship between us at this point. The very least. I knew in my heart, if not my battling mind, that my feelings for her were greater than that of friendship, however. But was it love? I couldn't be sure. I had never felt love for anyone outside of family. And now that I thought about it, I wasn't even sure if I had ever truly had family to love or be loved by.

If what I felt for Naomi Carson was love, it was certainly an odd feeling. I most definitely couldn't see what made everyone want it so badly. It made your heart race, stomach churn, blood boil, head ache, fingers tingle, mouth go dry, and mind go blank. And it almost seemed like every fiber in my being was wishing to be closer to her. How could anyone stand to be in love, if that was indeed what it was? It seemed as if I was oblivious to everything outside of Naomi.

And to Naomi, I seemed to be hypersensitive. I took note of every breath she took, her chest rising and falling calmly as she tried to concentrate on her drawing. She pursed her pink lips together, occasionally biting her bottom lip as she scrutinized her work. When she would do this, her brow would furrow slightly as well. She twirled the yellow pencil between her slender fingers absentmindedly in one hand while the other hand drummed her fingers against her lap. This same hand would occasionally pause and tuck a loose strand of soft-looking orange hair behind her ear, out of the way of her focused amber eyes. And her amber eyes scanned the page that she focused so intently upon, its contents still unknown to me.

Her eyes suddenly flicked up to mine. "What?" she asked.

_ Damn! _Malice and Compassion wailed in unison. _Caught off guard again, you moronic idiotic dolt! _

I simply raised my eyebrows at her. "What?" I asked in return, trying desperately not to show any outward signs of the turmoil going on in my living hell of a mind.

Naomi gave me an unsure look. "Well, you ask me to stay, and then you just stand there silently, kind of staring at me like you're trying to figure something out."

"Your point being?" I asked lightly, not wanting to say anything that would make either Malice or Compassion scream at me.

Naomi shrugged. "I don't know," she glanced away. What are you thinking about, anyway?"

That damn question again. She had asked it earlier tonight, when we first met in the forest in Germany. My mind had been as blank then as it was now. I had wanted so desperately to think of something impressive and clever to say… yet meeting her amber eyes, nothing had come to mind. So earlier, I had ended up saying an answer worthy of Thor's simple-minded stupidity:. 'Nothing.'

And now, the same answer came to mind. I couldn't tell her what I was really thinking about. But couldn't I think of something a little more clever to say than 'nothing'?

"I'm thinking about how humans are such an odd species," I said, the idea running across my mind and jumping out of my mouth before I could stop it.

Naomi raised an eyebrow. "That's a little random, isn't it? And what makes humans so odd, as compared to Asgardians?"

I considered. It was a valid question, really. "Humans never know what they want."

Naomi looked thoughtful. "Okay, I kind of have to agree. But do Asgardians always know what they want?"

My thoughts travelled to Malice and Compassion. No, I certainly didn't always know what I wanted. But Naomi didn't need to know that. "Obviously. I know exactly what I want. To rule."

Naomi smiled wryly. "You don't know the first thing about ruling humans, do you?"

I furrowed my brow. "What makes you say that?"

"Despite what you might think, humans don't 'crave subjugation,'" she said, making quotation marks in the air with her fingers.

I raised my eyebrows. "I already told you, humans don't know what they want."

Naomi rolled her eyes. "I know exactly what humans want."

I waited silently.

"Humans just want what they're not allowed to have. That's all we want," she shrugged.

I cocked my head to one side. "Interesting idea. So if you were allowed to have everything in the world, what would you want then?"

"Humans would want things that didn't exist, maybe. Or maybe we'd just get bored, and want less extravagance. And once we had less extravagance, we'd want more. Human beings are kind of stupid that way, but I think that's kind of part of human nature," she shrugged.

I frowned. "You talk like you're not one of them."

"So do you," Naomi accused, raising her eyebrows at me.

"But that's because I'm not," I said quickly. "You are."

"Am I?" she asked.

I frowned at her questioning smile. "Yes."

Naomi's grin broadened. "I just wanted to see what you'd say to that. Anyways, I just can think about behavior. Even though I'm human, I can still think about human behavior critically. And I have to agree, we can be kind of stupid."

_Not all of you, _I thought to myself, looking at Naomi Carson. "People are smart, sometimes," I said quietly.

Naomi pursed her lips. "Can I tell you a really good quote from a movie?"

I shrugged.

Naomi took this as invitation enough. "People are not smart. A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals, and you and I both know it." She paused searching my face. "That's a quote from 'Men in Black.' I think it's absolutely true. Though I don't think it just goes for humans. I think Asgardians are probably pretty close to humans, just a little longer-lived. I mean, you and I come from totally different worlds," she paused, a mischievous grin spreading across her face. "Quite literally. But we get along well enough, right?"

I didn't answer.

"So I think that your thinking yourself above humans is a little… hypocritical. You act pretty human a lot of the time. You say it's human indecisiveness that makes them different, but you can't seem to decide whether you want to be nice to me or not," she locked her eyes with mine, a question in her expression.

I felt my heart start racing again, but I didn't look away. I felt the sudden urge to say the words "I love you" before the moment was gone, but my resolve slipped as quickly as it had come.

_Coward, _Compassion whispered wickedly to me.

"I think I really should go now," Naomi murmured. "I've been here for hours, and it's almost dawn already."

I felt my heart sink as she stood, closed her drawing pad, and set it on her chair.

"We should have the location of the Tesseract soon," she added, glancing at me. "So if all goes according to plan, you won't be able to rule my pathetic indecisive species," she said sarcastically, though a soft smile curved along her lips briefly.

"Not all humans are pathetic," I suddenly said.

Naomi's eyes snapped up to mine, surprise flickering in her amber gaze.

"Just most," I added quickly, feeling my cheeks go hot again.

Naomi laughed softly. "Yeah. Unfortunately, I'm almost forced to agree with you, just going off of the people I know." She let out a cough that sounded an awful lot like the name 'Tony Stark.'

I laughed as well, and she looked pleased.

There was a moment of silence before Naomi said, "Like I said, we should have our tracking thingamajigger done soon, and then… I'm not quite sure what the plan is, but… I probably won't be coming back to talk to you again," she said quietly.

I nodded, another plan forming inn my own mind. "I enjoyed talking to you, Agent Carson. I'll see you soon."

Naomi frowned slightly. "No, you probably won't. I just said…" she trailed off, seeing the mischievous smirk on my face. Maybe she didn't quite understand my meaning then, but she knew I meant something. Maybe she knew I had something up my sleeve, but was too afraid to ask what it was.

Or maybe she just trusted me. I liked that idea, even if it wasn't a good idea for her to trust me.

She hesitated a moment before she stepped closer to my glass cell and pressed her left hand to it.

I smiled slightly and matched my right hand to hers against the glass.

Our eyes met for a moment, and we smiled.

I let my hand fall away first. "You should go. You have my plans to foil, Naomi, don't you?"

Naomi gave me a not-quite-trusting look and nodded. "Gotta make sure the Earth isn't conquered." She paused,, trying to think of something else to say. "Bye," she muttered, then dragged her chair away, walking backwards so that she could still watch me as she left.

I smiled as she disappeared down the hall, out of sight. Yes, I would see the Huntress again soon. For the oddest reasons, I felt like I couldn't go for more than a few hours without her company. I would see her again soon. And then I would tell her how I felt about her.

But until then, I would torment the Black Widow, who I could sense was going to be coming in a few short minutes.

Not really sure how to feel about it; something in the way you move

Makes me feel like I can't live without you Yeah it takes me all the way

And I want you to stay.

The reason I hold on

Is I need this hole gone

Funny you're the broken one but I'm the only one who needed saving

'Cause when you never see the light it's hard to know which one of us is caving

Not really sure how to feel about it; something in the way you move

Makes me feel like I can't live without you; yeah, it takes me all the way

And I want you to stay.

Stay by Rihanna

Tony Stark

The genius billionaire playboy philanthropist was still in the lab with Banner, though there hadn't been any conversation for a while. Stark kept an eye on the monitor before him, cycling through the programs periodically to check on them.

He flicked through several windows, mostly displaying radar, graphs, and other data that was showing the progress of the Tesseract location programs. Stark paused as he came to a window displaying a chess game. He was playing against Jarvis, and, of course, Tony was winning. Tony smiled, looking at the virtual chessboard. In about sixteen moves, he would be able to take out Jarvis's queen, and from there, it would be a piece of cake. He made his move.

"Brilliant move, sir," the artificial intelligence's voice complimented.

"Of course it was; it was made by me," Tony smirked.

He continued to cycle through the open programs, and sighed as he opened the next one. He had been watching the progress of this window for several hours now. What he saw on this window he didn't like.

Why did this crap have to be happening now? It was going to ruin everything if things kept progressing as they were.

Stark glanced across the room at Bruce Banner. He considered telling him what was going on, not for the first time. But again, not for the first time, he dismissed the idea. The billionaire would let things run their course, then fix it afterward, if need be.

He hesitated once more, looking at the monitor. He felt his stomach tighten. Seriously, this was just bad news, though.

Hours of this thought process. Tell someone, don't tell someone, let things run their course, they'll sort themselves out… and always an anxiety when he glanced at the monitor.

For hours, Tony Stark had been watching the security cameras in the detention facility of the aircraft. And Tony Stark had been watching as Naomi Carson and Loki appeared to be getting pretty buddy-buddy.

He could only hope things weren't going to go in a tailspin, or a nosedive, or just flat-out explode. Because if they did, the whole world could be in even worse danger than it was in now. The situation could go very well, or it could all go to hell.

Tony wasn't sure how, but he wanted to make sure things went well. No matter what it took from him, he would make sure Loki and Naomi didn't cause too much trouble for the rest of this mission.

**Note from LoquaciousQuibbler: Darn you, Tony! Spying on Naoki! And everyone thought no one knew… dun dun duuunnn! **

**Ah, and Loki… That awkward moment when the angel on your shoulder shouts at you just as bad as (if not worse than) the devil on your other shoulder. The thing I like about Malice and **

**Compassion is that it shows that even the "good" side of Loki is a complete and utter smeghead to him… **

** "**_**You foolish, idiotic, oafish, moronic dolt! **_**Compassion berated me."**

** Case in point. Messed up how Compassion can be so… uncompassionate. Ha, ha… **

**Yeah, his mind is a living hell. He can't stop yelling at himself and criticizing himself, no matter what he does. **

** Next chapter, Loki escapes from his cell, Naomi finds out about Phase 2, and that whole bit… yeah it's a pretty emotional chapter up next. So stay tuned! **

**Also, please give me feedback on my story so far. Thank you, I appreciate it. Also, just randomly, I just realized I am currently wearing my Thor shirt… Ironically, I wrote from Loki's point of view while wearing a Thor t-shirt. Weiird. **

_Note from darkonesroses: Wow, ok, Loki has issues. But I love the malice and compassion arguments, they sound like me and LQ, its almost scary. Inspiration much, sis? Lol anyways, yes, we are back, but school starts next week, so we will slow again. So please leave comments! Hugs and loves!_


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